No. 25 Florida falls to Oklahoma in 23-7 loss

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables fired his offensive coordinator and wanted more points, and he didn’t care how quickly the Sooners scored.

What he got Saturday night against No. 25 Florida was a back-breaking, clock-eating drive that covered 89 yards in 20 plays and proved to be the final blow in a 23-7 victory over No. 25 Florida.

“A thing of beauty,” Venables said. “Fabulous in every way.”

John Mateer did just enough with his legs and arm under new play-caller Jason Witten and Sooners’ tough defense took care of the rest as Oklahoma throttled the Gators by holding them to 203 yards and 47 plays.

Mateer threw a pair of short touchdown passes, the last one to Isaiah Sategna III that capped the 89-yard drive that took 12 minutes and 45 seconds off the clock, which Oklahoma said was its longest drive in 54 years.

It started with 2:41 left in the third quarter. When Sategna caught the pass just inches over the hands of cornerback Ben Hanks III for a 20-7 lead, only 4:56 was left in the game. It took even quicker for The Swamp to empty.

“They found ways to get third-and-shorts, fourth-and-shorts and just convert and keep converting,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall said.

The Sooners (5-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and Witten, the Dallas Cowboys’ former tight end who was coaching high school in suburban Dallas last year, took over on an interim basis.

The Sooners didn’t dazzle — they had only one play longer than 20 yards — but they were efficient, particularly on the clinching drive.

“The best four quarters of football by this football team,” Venables said.

The Gators (5-4, 3-4) appeared in the College Football Playoff ranking for the first time since 2020 and won’t stick around. The offense looked anemic under Tramell Jones Jr. The Gators’ longest play from scrimmage was a 33-yard pass to Duke Clark in the flats.

That drive ended when Sumrall went for it on fourth-and-3 from the 17 with Oklahoma up 13-7 and 6:27 left in the third quarter. Jones was on his back foot and threw across the field to an open Eric Courtland Jr., but Courtland Guillory caught up with it and picked it off in the end zone.

“Just did not know how much more opportunities we were going to get in the red zone, so felt like with us down six, kicking a field goal when we hadn’t had that many trips down there, we needed to try to get a touchdown there,” Sumrall said.

Mateer was 21 of 33 for 214 yards and had 56 yards rushing. Jones was 10-of-22 for 133 yards, 34 of those on the final drive when Oklahoma was giving him room.

Venables wanted more offense, as quickly as possible, and instead saw what amounted to a defensive struggle for so much of the game. The Gators’ longest play in the opening half was a 31-yard punt return by Bailey Stockton.

The Sooners scored on their first two possessions. Mateer found tight end Rocky Beers for 41 yards down the sideline to set up a field goal. Oklahoma converted a fourth-and-one from the Florida 46 to extend a drive that ended on a clever play by Witten. Mateer faked a handoff and a reverse to Sategna and quickly flipped it to a wide-open Hayden Hansen for a 3-yard TD pass and a 10-0 lead.

Jayden Baugh cashed in on Stockton’s punt return with a 15-yard touchdown run in which he stretch for the pylon on a play first ruled to be out-of-bounds.

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