Dillon Gabriel wrote himself into college football history on Saturday.
The veteran quarterback was noting short of sensational in Oklahoma’s 59-20 victory over West Virginia, as he threw for 423 yards and five touchdowns while adding 50 yards and three additional scores on the ground.
Gabriel became just the second player in FBS history to throw for 14,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in his career, matching former OU legend Baker Mayfield, who crossed those benchmarks in 2017.
But perhaps most meaningful to Gabriel, he passed Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan on the all-time career passing list, a playmaker he grew up idolizing as he watched him play in his home state.
“I think it’s just a special thing,” Gabriel said on Monday. “It’s kind of crazy to look up to a guy, and obviously playing at this level now, dreaming of what they were doing and now being in this spot, I think it’s just full-circle.
“I remember my Colt Brennan posters and wearing the specific helmet that he wore, with the Oakley visor. Just certain little things like that, just kind of make me smile.”
As the list of honors and accomplishments grow, Gabriel is still intent on getting back to work each week to finish his final collegiate season on a high.
The Sooners have at least three games left — this week’s trip to BYU, the Black Friday regular season finale against TCU and a bowl trip — but scenarios exist for OU to find itself in the 2023 Big 12 title game.
The adventure of changing clarifying the conference tiebreakers finally reached a conclusion on Wednesday, but Gabriel said the locker room is just going to pay attention to the things the Sooners themselves can control.
“I don’t know the specifics,” he said. “But if I know anything about college football, every week something’s new. A bunch of things are gonna happen. Whatever will happen will happen. You’ve just gotta focus on this week and getting the dub.
“… I’m not doing the NFL Super Bowl bingo. But I am just preparing and trying to play my best football and the rest, I truly think, will take care of itself.”
That preparation starts this week as it has every week in 2023, finding the mistakes that were made against West Virginia and correcting them ahead of the trip to Provo — even if Gabriel’s performance against the Mountaineers yielded eight total touchdowns.
“There’ll always be things you wish you could have back,” he said. “But I think when you look at it, just at the positives from it, how physical we were, I think that’s something we can take with us.”
Oklahoma has been physically dominant at times this year.
OU’s 50-20 win over Iowa State on the eve of the yearly showdown with Texas still stands as one of the best wins across Big 12 play this season.
But the Sooners also know what lies ahead of the get off schedule and don’t take care of the football.
Six combined turnovers in trips to Kansas and Oklahoma State translated into back-to-back losses, and it’s no coincidence OU’s worst performances came on the road.
Though Saturday’s contest against BYU will kick off at 10 a.m. local time, the Cougar faithful will be excited to host Oklahoma for the first time ever.
Merely blowing West Virginia off the football last Saturday won’t translate to success in Provo if OU can’t carry over that momentum and play clean football on the road.
“At the end of the day, it’s a game of doing,” Gabriel said. “We’ve gotta prove that every week.”
Oklahoma has only met the Cougars twice on the gridiron, but Gabriel knows exactly what BYU is about.
He grew up watching Hawaii battle with BYU and he faced off with the Cougars at UCF, so he’s excited to write his own bit of history in the third-ever meeting between OU and BYU come Saturday.
“I think they’re really good,” he said. “Obviously played BYU before so I know what they’re about. They’re very physical and have played well together. Had a tough stretch but shoot, that place is special, different and kind of unique in college football.”
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