Oklahoma football: 3 takeaways from Sooners dominating win over Iowa State

The Oklahoma Sooners (4-0) are coming off a win against Cincinnati in which they dominated every phase of the game; the Sooners looked forward to having a similar performance against conference foe Iowa State and keep this train going.

Dillon Gabriel has lit the Sooners’ fire so far this season. He has completed 92 of 118 for 1,227 yards. That’s a 78.0 percent completion rate. That is absurd. He is the general of this offense and will be treated as such; as he goes, so will the Oklahoma offense. A game like this is dangerous, as it could be a trap game, as the Sooners have the Texas Longhorns next week.

Iowa State (2-2) was coming off a win where they outdueled Oklahoma State 34-27. Iowa State has had losses against Ohio and Iowa. The upside to these losses was that they were one-score games, so they could’ve been games where they could have easily won. But there are no moral victories in college football. This game against Oklahoma should be competitive, as the Sooners’ defense has been prone to give up explosive plays.

3. The Oklahoma Sooners’ defense is still a work in progress

After all the recruiting this past season, there was an expectation for the Sooners’ defense this year. An expectation that has once again has not delivered. The big plays that they continue to give up to opponent offenses are not good; granted, this is the fifth game of the season, and I understand that defenses in the Big 12 are always suspect, but at some point, Oklahoma’s expectations are going to have to be met and not just overhyped.

Iowa State now has the most points scored on the Sooners this season with 20 points. The offense for the Cyclones bothered the Sooners this game with their constant shifts and motions, forcing a bunch of miscommunications. They were getting out-leveraged most of the game, particularly in the run game.

The Sooners still have work to do. They haven’t exactly struggled with takeaways this year, but you can’t have Iowa State score 20 points in the first half against you. The coverages that the Sooners were playing were allowing Iowa State to carve up the defense at times. The Sooners’ defense could be their Achilles heel.

The defense in the second half for the Sooners was a different look as they completely shut down the Iowa State defense. They made their adjustments at half, and it looked like a completely different team. They were applying pressure on Cyclones quarterback Rocco Becht and defending the run better than they had in the first half.