Photo by Amy Frost

OU fullback Matt Clapp evades defenders in the Sooners' 66-28 victory of the Texas A&M Aggies.

The OU rushing attack continues to impress after another dominant performance against Texas A&M.

The Sooners ran for 328 yards against the Aggies Saturday, their most productive running game of the season.

“It charges us up [when we run] like that,” said head coach Bob Stoops. “It makes some of the other things easier. We missed some opportunities, but I think we ran the offense well. We had great field position and great execution.”

OU has put up good numbers on the ground in the last four games.

During that stretch, the Sooners have run for 206, 273, 193 and 328 yards against Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Texas A&M, respectively, for a total of 1,000 yards.

In the previous four games, the Sooners rushed for a total of 564 yards — including 25 against TCU and 48 against Texas.

After those struggles, the offensive line and running backs received criticism because of the running game’s lack of production.

“I think the criticism was deserved,” junior offensive lineman Brian Simmons said. “We didn’t produce like we wanted, but I think we’ve worked hard and fixed those problems.”

In the last four games, running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown rushed for more than 100 yards each in the same game twice.

They had accomplished that feat only once in the first six games.

Brown said the running game’s recent success can be credited to the offensive linemen, and that without them the running game would go nowhere.

The increased success of the running game has added another facet to an already dangerous OU offense.

Led by sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford, the Sooner offense is No. 3 in the nation in total yards, behind only Tulsa and Texas Tech.

Bradford is in the top two in the nation in touchdown passes, passing yards and passing efficiency.

“Sam does a real good job just playing within himself and taking what the defense gives him,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “We talk a lot about taking what is there, and when the run game goes like that, we do pretty well.”

Senior offensive lineman Brandon Walker said that even with the good performance offensively, the team was still upset about leaving points on the field.

“We feel kind of bad; in the first half [against A&M] we should have had more points, but our yardage looked good,” Walker said. “We were kind of down at halftime, so we came out strong the second half focused on putting points on the board.”

Walker’s attitude toward how the offense is performing is modest, considering OU scored 35 points in the first half and 66 in the game. By any other team’s standards, that would be a phenomenal day.

“I think we’ve bounced back from the loss [against Texas], but we still have to focus on what’s ahead,” Walker said.

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The 5th Quarter

The 5th Quarter 11/10/08

Steven Jones and Corey DeMoss discuss OU's latest victory of Texas A&M.