How a unique family bond could be the key to TCU upsetting Oklahoma

When TCU and Oklahoma take the field on Friday, there will be a unique sense of familiarity between the two teams.

Why? Because both of their offensive coordinators are related through marriage. That’s right, Sooners offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby is married to Kendal Briles’ sister Staley.

The coaching world is a small one. Beyond the family ties that connect the two coordinators, they also share similar offensive ideologies as both hail from the Art Briles coaching tree. Lebby was on staff at Baylor from 2008-16 before stops at UCF and Ole Miss.

Like Kendal, he was there as the veer and shoot offense took Baylor from the cellar to contention. Both men are still running their own versions of it to this day.

“They’re very similar offenses, I imagine if we got their call sheet most of our guys would know the plays,” coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday. “With coaches, you have a background, we all come from somewhere. You go places and add something to it, then you go to a certain school and build that system around those players.

“Both offenses have been successful in terms of being able to move the football.”

The Sooners are ranked seventh in total offense, while the Horned Frogs are only a few spots behind at 14. According to teamrankings.com, both programs are in the top-20 in terms of having the fastest tempo in college football.

Schematically, the two spread offenses want to accomplish the same things in the ways they attack defenses.

“A lot of tempo, their offensive coordinator is related to Coach Briles so there’s a lot of similarities,” cornerback Josh Newton said. “They like to go wide splits to create a light box and if you have stack the box they’re going to try and throw it on the edges, same ole same ole football.”

While the schemes are the same, the execution hasn’t been. The Horned Frogs average a respectable 30.1 points per game, which is good for 48th in the country.

The Sooners average over 40 and are ranked No. 4 in the country. This is despite TCU and Oklahoma having nearly identical numbers in average first downs and total yards per game.

So what has made Oklahoma’s version of this offense so dynamic while the Horned Frogs’ has been inconsistent at best?

It starts at quarterback with Dillon Gabriel, one of the lead candidates for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

“They have a senior quarterback that has 50-plus starts and we have a young quarterback who is really growing fast,” Dykes said. “All those are factors in winning or losing football games.”

The experience of Gabriel shines when Oklahoma gets to the red zone as the field tightens and there’s less space to operate your full offense. The dynamic dual threat has helped Oklahoma have a top-50 scoring offense in the red zone with the Sooners scoring on almost 88% of their red zone trips.

After two more scoreless red zone trips, the Horned Frogs sit at 127th with only three teams lower than them. There is a possibility that Gabriel won’t be able to play Friday after leaving the win over BYU last week early with an injury.

There’s been no official word on Gabriel’s status, but signs point to him at least being available. It’s hard to determine whether that’s actually true or if the Sooners are just trying to keep TCU on its toes and make the Horned Frogs prepare for two quarterbacks.

If Gabriel is compromised, then five-star freshman Jackson Arnold, a Denton Guyer alum, will get his first extensive action of the season. He’s only played in five games this year as Oklahoma was hoping to redshirt him, but that was burned last week against BYU.

Arnold is extremely talented, but hasn’t had many opportunities to show what he can do.

“Hard to know exactly who we’re going to see,” Dykes said. “(Arnold) doesn’t have a huge sample size, there’s enough there to kind of have an idea of what they’re comfortable running with him. That gives you a little bit of a starting point.”

Regardless of who gets the start at quarterback, the pressure is going to be on TCU’s defense to find a way to slow Oklahoma’s offense down.

The 3-3-5 is designed to matchup with an offense that wants to spread you out like this. If the defense can stop Oklahoma from running wild then the Sooners are beatable as evidence by losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State and close calls against BYU and UCF.

With quarterback uncertainty and a unique familiarity with the offense, the Horned Frogs have a better chance than expected to get out of Norman with a win. If it’s the same team TCU has shown the last six quarters, then an upset could be brewing.