Through four games, Oklahoma’s run game is non-existent.
Entering Saturday’s game, sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold led the team in rushing with 159 yards on 36 carries. Against Tennessee, quarterback draws and scrambles were once again the only progress the Sooners made on the ground during a stagnant offensive showing.
“There’s just some bad football (being played),” head coach Brent Venables said following No. 15 OU’s (3-1, 0-1 SEC) 25-15 loss to No. 6 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday in Norman. “Guys are getting whooped and beat and not winning their matchups, and I don’t like that at all.”
The Sooners’ running back pair of Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk, who were thought to be the primary one-two punch out of the backfield at the start of the season, entered the game with 161 yards on 47 attempts for an average of 3.4 yards per carry against the No. 129, No. 99 and No. 57 rushing defenses nationally.
Saturday, OU’s backs were tested by a strong defense for the first time this season, and failed.
Freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. led the team with 22 rushing yards on 12 attempts, followed by junior wide receiver Deion Burks with 18 yards on two carries. Freshman Taylor Tatum, who only played during the first quarter due to injury, led all OU running backs with 14 yards on three attempts.
Many of the issues in the run game can be traced back to the Sooners’ offensive line, which allowed 11 tackles for loss and three sacks against the Volunteers. Venables chalked the issues on the offensive line up to a variety of factors, including execution, physicality and communication.
“We had a couple tackles for loss (where) we had wrong communication,” Venables said. “To me, that goes back to us as coaches. Every unit on the team has got to communicate, that's part of the game of football.”
“I'm tired of watching the same thing. I'd rather everybody be wrong and be on the same page than one guy is doing this, one guy is doing that. You can't play good football when you're doing that.”
While simple miscues like communication contributed to Oklahoma’s first loss, they also serve as a silver lining for OU’s offense, which gives co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell hope moving forward.
“I think it’s very, very easy to fix,” Littrell said of the offensive issues. “Turn on the game and watch and look at the plays, you’ll see there’s a lot being left out there.”
Sooners’ defense holds strong
Brent Venables was brought to Oklahoma seemingly to revive the Sooners’ defense, which he’s done with the help of defensive coordinator Zac Alley.
One of the headlines heading into the Sooners’ marquee matchup with the Volunteers was OU’s defense against Tennessee’s No. 1 scoring offense nationally heading into the game.
Led by redshirt freshman phenom quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the Volunteers averaged 639.3 yards of offense and 63.7 points through their first three matchups, which they won by a combined score of 191-13, an SEC record for point differential through three games.
The Sooners held Iamaleava under 200 passing yards and kept the Volunteers’ ground game in control by only allowing 2.9 yards per carry. They sacked Iamaleava three times, had nine tackles for loss and even forced two turnovers which OU’s offense failed to score off of, despite one of them setting the Sooners up at the Tennessee six-yard line.
“I think we really played our ass off the entire game,” Danny Stutsman said. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t go our way.”
Not only did Oklahoma’s defense turn in a solid showing against the Volunteers, they were able to flex their competitive depth while doing so by rotating a variety of players at each spot.
“That was the plan for the week,” Alley said. “You love that you saw some young guys and freshmen that haven't played come in. … You feel more comfortable as you move forward that you have an opportunity to play young guys early in the year that you know at some point you're going to have to count on them in big time situations.”
Injury report
A plethora of injuries hurt the Sooners’ chances against Tennessee.
First, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Nic Anderson, who was making his return after missing the Sooners’ first three games, went to the locker room in the first quarter and returned to the sideline wearing street clothes. Venables said postgame that Anderson re-strained his quadricep, but did not give a timeline for his return.
Shortly after Anderson’s injury, Tatum headed to the locker room in the first quarter with an unspecified injury. Deion Burks was also injured, which Venables described as “a soft tissue” and said he doesn't know the extent of the injury.
In the second quarter, senior defensive back Kendel Dolby suffered a leg injury and was carted off the field after his teammates surrounded him in support. Venables said he thinks Dolby dislocated his ankle and expects him to have surgery “pretty quickly.”
“I wish it would’ve been me,” Stutsman said of Dolby’s injury, “because I know how much Dolby cares about this sport and everything that goes into it.”
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— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 22, 2024
The Sooners will face Auburn at 2:30 p.m. in Auburn on ABC.
