OU Daily assistant sports editor Louis Raser answers your questions and comments regarding the Sooners’ 34-3 loss to Texas in the Red River Rivalry and more.
Will Seth Littrell get fired?
I don’t know. But I don’t think so.
There are certainly reasons to question Littrell through six games, but it’s tough to justify firing an offensive coordinator based on such a small sample size, particularly when he’s dealing with an injury-depleted wide receiver room and a struggling offensive line.
I don’t see OU moving on from Littrell this season or even in the offseason. But, if the Sooners continue to produce the worst offense in the Power Four — even when Jalil Farooq, Deion Burks, Andrel Anthony and Nic Anderson return — then it’s a different story.
Concern: Littrell, Joe Jon Finley, DeMarco Murray
I always thought promoting Joe Jon Finley to co-offensive coordinator one year after OU’s tight ends turned in their worst season of receiving production since 2014 was an interesting choice.
His tight ends have certainly stepped up their play in the pass game, but Bauer Sharp is still a very weak blocker, which is hurting the Sooners’ rushing attack.
As for DeMarco Murray, picking up the commitment of Taylor Tatum was a huge success. However, on the same day OU averaged 2.3 yards in the run game, former Sooner Tawee Walker, who was never on scholarship with OU, rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns.
Safe to say that was a big loss. I’m also puzzled by the dropoff we’ve seen from Gavin Sawchuk. Sure, the offensive line plays a big role in him and Jovantae Barnes not being able to produce at a high level, but he’s been the least successful back in that room this year by a wide margin.
With how the offense has played this year, I’m inclined to think that Emmett Jones and Bill Bedenbaugh are the only two offensive coaches with good job security.
Why didn’t OU hire a quarterbacks coach?
They promoted Littrell to the position along with co-offensive coordinator, even though he’s never been a quarterbacks coach.
Littrell’s lack of experience was brought to light after he was hired for the position, but was brushed off pretty quickly by many.
After OU’s blowout loss Saturday, one of the things Venables said the Sooners need to do a better job of is getting young players prepared. That statement further begs the question of why he wouldn’t hire an experienced quarterbacks coach to develop his primary two quarterbacks — freshman Hawkins and sophomore Jackson Arnold.
Maybe it was assumed Littrell would figure it out on the fly? Maybe they were relying on seventh-year senior Casey Thompson to mentor his young teammates? I’m not sure. But either way, Arnold and Hawkins have a ton of potential, and putting them behind a weak offensive line with no healthy receivers while also failing to give them an experienced quarterbacks coach, in my opinion, is a disservice to both.
Why the lack of deep passes against Texas?
There’s no doubt that Oklahoma played way too conservative offensively against Texas, and conservative play was never going to beat the Longhorns’ top-notch defense.
Certainly some of that was due to the play calling, but there were also times when Hawkins didn’t seem to look downfield and take risks, even when he had an open receiver deep. I remember seeing freshman Zion Ragins open downfield early in the game and not getting targeted. It also surprises me that OU didn’t send Brenen Thompson deep as much considering his speed.
Brent Venables also credited Texas’ defense for tightening passing lanes in the middle of the field. At the end of the day, the Sooners were facing a secondary that simply outmatched their receivers.
I wouldn’t know where to start with my concerns
Lol.
There certainly were a lot of weak points and things to be worried about moving forward, so much so that punter Luke Elzinga was one of the first players Venables praised in his postgame press conference — which isn’t the first time this season that’s happened.
And while most of the questions and comments in this mailbag are about the typical offensive struggles, Oklahoma’s defense also played poorly against its biggest test of the season. It’s concerning to see how quickly things collapsed for that unit. And even in the first quarter, if Quinn Ewers doesn’t make a couple errant third down throws, we might be talking about an even larger margin than 34-3.
Very concerning how this performance came after a bye week
Agreed. You would think they’d be more prepared with the week off, but they weren’t.
I thought the play calling in the first quarter and the creative new looks they tried out were actually really smart. OU’s offense had a decent deal of success during that time, but soon turned into its usual self as the second quarter hit. It seems that as soon as they have to go off script, that’s when negative plays and other issues start to occur, which could be why they’ve yet to score in the second quarter through three SEC games.
Why is the offensive line struggling?
Bill Bedenbaugh’s strength has never been recruiting, it’s been developing the players he has. But in the era of transfer portal and NIL, and so much turnover with the offensive line this past year, he doesn’t have time to develop guys over the span of four years like he used to.
That’s the best reasoning I can give for why the offensive line hasn’t played anywhere near their usual standard this season. It’s tough losing all five starters on a unit and replacing them in one offseason. But Bedenbaugh has reason to be optimistic about the players he’s bringing to Norman, starting with class of 2025 five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi.
If offensive line is still an issue in a few years, then there’s a conversation to be had about Bedenbaugh’s ability to recruit in the modern era of college football.
Is OU the new Nebraska?
No. Nebraska has scored a touchdown in all its games. OU has not.
In all seriousness though, obviously it’s far too early to evaluate Oklahoma’s SEC move and compare it to Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten, but this is a concerning start.
