No. 15 Oklahoma (2-0) stumbled on offense during its 16-12 win over Houston (0-2) on Saturday.
The struggles, which have already become apparent two weeks into the season are alarming, and as injuries continue to plague OU, the offense’s outlook looks bleak.
However, head coach Brent Venables understands that moving forward, especially with Oklahoma on the brink of its SEC schedule — where it is set to play six of the seven top-ranked teams on the AP poll — OU will have to figure out ways to execute on offense despite injury.
Against the Cougars, OU ran the ball 29 times for 75 yards, averaging just 2.6 yards per carry. Eleven of those carriers came from sophomore starting quarterback Jackson Arnold. The Sooners also struggled in the air, with Arnold completing 19 of 32 passes for 174 yards. Houston led OU in total offensive yardage 318 to 249.
After its season opener against Temple, and its performance on Saturday, OU is ranked the third-worst total offense in the SEC, averaging 313.5 yards a game, but Venables has emphasized getting good reps in practice and figuring out what works ahead of Tulane.
“So you understand what you can do well, what you’ve seen them do well in practice, and those are the things that are at the top of the game plan,” Venables said. “It is one thing for it to happen on paper and then you’ve got to go do it in the game. The more you do it, the more confident you’ll get, and again, that confidence comes from practicing.
"We try to go a lot of good-on-good, so that there is a smaller window of air at practice, and so you’re not surprised on gameday with what those things look like.”
OU has also struggled to convert on third down, converting just 19.23% of its in-game opportunities. After going 5 of 26 through two weeks of play, and needing an average of 8.6 yards per third down, the Sooners are ranked third to last in the nation in conversion percentage.
“It could be protection, it could be in the precision of the route detail, or maybe it is the physical strength at the end of the route,” Venables said when addressing the third down conversion concerns. “Some it may be recognizing what they are in…Maybe it’s decision making by the quarterback, maybe it’s his fundamentals within the pocket, maybe it is just IDing upfront…There’s a lot of those components that are all part of those third downs, and any one of them can break down and it's not a good result.”
Despite OU’s struggles, Venables hopes that in time the offense will improve. However, as the Sooners navigate through early season obstacles, the head coach is aware that it could take time.
“They will get better the more we play,” Venables said. “We’ll keep the same lineup. This is a group of guys that are committed to the work, and the things that it takes. It may not happen as fast as everyone would like, but it’ll get better.”
Sooners hit with injury bug
Venables refers to OU’s trainers as “Dr. Death.”
The Sooners have been plagued with injuries, particularly at wide receiver and offensive line. Prior to the season, junior wide receiver Jayden Gibson suffered a knee injury that will sideline him for the entire season.
Since then, senior Jalil Farooq suffered an injury that will require him to miss six to eight weeks, redshirt sophomore Nic Anderson has missed OU’s first two matchups and senior Andrel Anthony is slowly being reinstated into the offense, causing confusion in a room full of mostly young pass catchers.
“There’s a reason the (No. 1 options) are ones, the (backups) are twos, and the (third stringers) are threes,” Venables said. “There’s a thing called chemistry, cohesion, timing and working together. Your best ability is availability.
“... Maybe it’s a Jayden Gibson who’s taken the majority of snaps all the way through summer and fall camp, and all the sudden he’s out, well the next guy didn’t take as many reps so he doesn’t have that experience.”
As far as the offensive line goes, Venables announced last night that Geirvean Hatchett will be out for the season after undergoing bicep surgery. Venables said Branson Hickman, who went down in OU’s season-opener against Temple, looked “better yesterday than he (did) last week,” and that he’s “hopeful” Jake Taylor will be available after missing the season-opener and getting injured again against Houston.
“I’m literally not being evasive, I don’t know,” Venables said of Hickman’s availability. “We’re hopeful, we really are. We could use a guy that’s started 35 games in his career.”
Tulane preview
While Tulane fell to Kansas State 34-27 last Saturday, the Green Wave is certainly expected to test the Sooners and try to make this game interesting.
Tulane nearly upset Oklahoma in 2021, with OU winning the week one matchup 40-35. Head coach Jon Sumrall enters his first season as head coach after spending the last two seasons at Troy, where he posted a 23-4 record with the Trojans.
Tulane comes into Saturday ranked 32nd in total offense and 59th in total defense. Junior wide receiver Mario Williams returns to Norman after playing with OU during his freshman season in 2021. Williams has caught 10 passes for 252 yards in two games this season.
“The last two years, Tulane has been a successful program,” Venables said on Tuesday. “They’ve won 10 straight road games, (the) third-longest streak in college football.”
“Really, really good. Seven returning starters on offense and several guys have started a lot of games on defense, so that’s where our focus is. We’ve got to put together a great game plan, our guys will be excited to play and it’ll be a great challenge for us.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah has completed 70.73% of his passes this season with only one turnover. Redshirt sophomore running back Makhi Hughes leads the team in carries and rushing yards with two touchdowns on the ground.
OU will play Tulane (1-1) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in Norman on ESPN.
