The 2022 OU spring game took place on Saturday. This years’ game took place before a record-setting crowd of 75,360 fans, the largest spring game attendance in the nation for 2022. The game also featured the statue dedication for 2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield along with being the first spring game of the Brent Venables era at OU.

The game this year featured two teams, the Red team and the White team. Each team was selected and put together via a random draft that happened prior to the game. The Red team came out on top of this years’ contest, winning by a score of 21-17. However, the White team was able to close the gap a little bit after falling behind 21-3 early in the game. Here are my observations from the game.

I thought all of the quarterbacks looked good throughout the entirety of the game. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel played on both teams while he was taking reps during the game, and I thought he looked good on both teams. Like I said in my preview, the wind was going to be howling and it was. All day. However, the QB’s were able to manage this wind and make the best of the situation. The QB highlight of the day came from Micah Bowens when he threw a 95 yard touchdown pass to Jaden Gibson in the third quarter.

The defensive line for both teams looked phenomenal. It seemed as if whoever was in at quarterback at the time was always under duress and flushed out of the pocket. This is something that has been lacking from Oklahoma defensively in recent years. Between the two teams, there were a combined 10 total sacks and an additional combined 17 tackles for loss. The pass rush was really promising on Saturday and is something that should have Sooner fans excited for the fall.

Another unit that looked really strong to me was the defensive backfield and secondary. Aside from the 95 yard touchdown reception, nothing came easy for either offense. Defenders in the secondary were always in the spots that they had to be in and were always there as soon as a receiver caught a pass.

Open field tackling was also very good on Saturday. The Sooners have been exposed way to many times out in space in one-on-one situations in recent years, so seeing guys square up and bring a ball carrier down in open space was nice to see. The Sooners also looked very physical out on the edges as well, another area that had been lacking in recent years.

It’s time to talk about Baker’s halftime Heisman ceremony. In my opinion, and this is just me being completely honest, I thought the ceremony was a little lackluster and could’ve been better. Don’t get me wrong it was a good ceremony and I love Baker. I just feel like it could’ve been a little better.

The biggest thing that I was disappointed with was the “memory/hype/ceremony” video. The gist of the video was Bakers’ Heisman acceptance speech overlaid by highlights from his Heisman winning year. Which if it were my first time to see the video it would’ve been a lot cooler. However, OU dropped the exact same video on social media platforms the day before the ceremony. So I, along with everyone else in attendance who regularly checks social media, had already seen the video. I was hoping that there would’ve been something different at the actual game since the video was dropped on social media the day before.

Outside of that though it was a good ceremony. It was also one that I think all parties involved needed, too. It was nice for OU fans to see Baker on Owen Field again and I am sure it was nice for Baker to be showered with love and admiration given how his recent months have played out.

My last thoughts from the spring game were about how excited Sooner Nation is for Brent Venables to be the next head coach. I mean 75,000 fans for a spring game? That’s insane. The energy inside of the stadium was absolutely amazing and I can’t imagine what it is going to be like on September 3 when the season actually begins.

Let me put it another way: Lincoln Riley will not be missed in Norman, Oklahoma.