Weekend Open Post | November 1st – 3rd
Posted on: November 1, 2024
Sunday Brunch | Light Fare
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 27, 2024
The Sooners are firmly riding the struggle bus as they have now dropped their last 3 games in a row, all to SEC conference foes.
However, yesterday, for the first time, against what probably was the best opponent they have played (at least defensively) the OU offense was ‘competent’ at the very least and ‘good’ at times in the first half of a game.
Here were the stats at halftime:
OU total offense:
235 total yards
110 passing – 125 rushing
Ole Miss total offense:
164 total yards
119 passing – 45 rushing
As we all know, things changed, Ole Miss made adjustments and OU did not as they floundered and struggled to move the ball through the 3rd quarter while giving up chunk plays defensively.
Then, the fourth quarter rolled around and despite having multiple chances to get back in the game, the offense gave up the ghost and allowed 6 sacks in their final 11 plays to seal the defeat for the Sooners.
Now, do not get it twisted…this was a team fail in the second half.
The defense gave up chunk plays and momentum swaying third and long conversions. The offensive line, while paving the way for an impressive day on the ground against a top tier run defense, couldn’t hold on in pass pro. The wide receivers not named Jordan Jacob were non-existent and the tight end play was atrocious. The Sooners secondary was missing in action for large chunks and the linebackers forgot that tight ends were weapons for the opposing offense.
Bottom line, for as well as they played in the first half, the entire Sooners team played equally as poorly in the second half.
Here is the thing…you cannot unsee what OU did in the first half. Not only did OU hold the lead, they left points on the field as they decided to go for a touchdown rather than kick a field goal from the 2 yard line. Whether or not you agree with that call, either way, the Sooners played well enough to have put 17 points on the board.
On defense, OU got off to a slow start on the Ole Miss opening possession. Felt like the Sooners defense was a bit surprised by the tempo and physicality of the Ole Miss offense and they capitulated rather quickly as the Rebels punched it in following a 6 play 75 yard drive.
One thing that I think is very important to make note of is that following the Ole Miss touchdown, the Sooner offense went on a 5:17 10 play drive of their own, which resulted in the failed 4th down attempt, but that drive felt like it actually provided some encouragement and reason to believe to the OU defense who were very stout throughout the rest of the first half.
We cannot unsee that and we shouldn’t ignore it. Was it enough? No. Was it a step in the right direction? Yes. Was it necessarily something that should be happening in game eight of the season? No, it should have happened earlier, but you cannot go back and change history, you can only look forward.
Today is not the day I am going to litigate the past decisions that have led us to where we are as a community that follows OU football. We will have plenty of time to discuss those topics. We (TFB) have already brought some uncomfortable topics to the forefront over the last 5-6 weeks and as the season goes on, should the Sooners not be able to find what they had in the first half against Ole Miss, there could be darker days on the horizon.
Right now, the Sooners are prepping for a home game against Maine next week. OU is still a banged-up squad physically, and things didn’t get better with Jacob Sexton going out yesterday. However, the Sooners should be able to get a bunch of guys some much-needed reps against Maine in the hopes that they can get up to speed for the closing stretch of Missouri, Alabama, and LSU. OU will need to win one of those final three games in order to secure a bowl bid and more importantly those vital extra 15 practices…providing they beat Maine.
For the first time in the last 4 weeks, I actually came away from a game a bit optimistic. Was that first half a mirage, or was it an indication of what could have been and what could be?
We will all find out together.
Do not take this post as my belief that all is well. I do not. I have been quite clear about that. I have questions about every aspect of the program at this point and that includes both sides of the ball on the field, decisions made off the field, and personnel management throughout the entire program to go along with a host of other concerns.
But I still cannot unsee what we saw in the first half, and that was really something that was fun to watch.
Position Group Progress Report | ’24 Game 8: Ole Miss
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 28, 2024
Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners loss to Ple Miss. OU was a substantial underdog going into the game, and Ole Miss did not cover the spread.
This will be the eighth progress report of the season. I will include the previous week’s ranking at the top of each position group’s report in all subsequent progress reports!
Let’s see how things shook out against Ole Miss.
QB: Low 4* (Last week: Black hole)
I thought Jackson Arnold brought a sense of confidence to the offense right off the bat and he did a lot of really nice things physically as well as showing a lot of maturity mentally. He played sound football and took care of the ball in the face of a constant onslaught from the Ole Miss defense.
He got help from a play caller who stayed with the run game throughout the first half and provided him with plenty of easy options as checkdowns and short passes. The only thing missing from his game against Ole Miss was the vertical aspect, but that goes hand in hand with the deficiencies in the wide receiver room.
His performance on Saturday only adds to the list of “What if’s” that will be discussed throughout this offseason. Very happy for him and very impressed by his commitment to the team and his intestinal fortitude.
RB: Low 4* (Last week: Nebula)
Jovantae Barnes led the way for the running back room with 16 carries for 67 yards (4.2 YPC) and Taylor Tatum added 9 carries for 43 yards (4.7 YPC) which combined with Jackson Arnold’s pre-sack rushing total would have put the Sooners very close to 200 yards on the ground against a defense that was averaging allowing 60-something yards per game.
Barnes also led the team in receiving yards with 57 yards on 5 receptions. Solid to impressive day for the Sooners backs.
WR: Nebula (Last week: Black hole)
Wide receiver was completely absent against South Carolina and they repeated that performance against Ole Miss aside from true freshman walkon Jacob Jordan who led the team with 6 catches.
No other receiver had a catch in the game until there were 8 minutes left when JJ Hester finally held onto a pass.
Just a dismal performance altogether for the wide receiver room.
TE: 1* (Last week: Black hole)
Yes, Bauer Sharp had 8 recpetions and one touchdown, but there were so many misses in blocking assignments and crucial dropped passes to have this group ranked any higher.
Jake Roberts was better in the blocking game than Sharp, but he still was more of a non-factor than a guy who had any impact.
OL: 2* (Last week: Black hole)
First half: High 4*
3rd quarter: High 2*
Last 6 minutes: Black Hole.
That’s how I got to a 2*…and I likely ranked them lower than they should for their entire body of work in an effort to not have this entire thread turn into a discussion on the offensive line.
Look, as I said immediately after the game, you cannot unsee what you saw, particularly in the first half against a defense that trotted out 4 early round draft picks on the defensive line. The Sooners had the best rushing performance against the Rebels, in one half, than any SEC has had against them in a full game to this point of the year. They were good.
OU’s last 11 plays, 6 of which went for sacks against them, is what will be remembered however.
Mike Tarquin was the best and most consistent OL once again, but I thought Nwaiwu and Everett actually had nice all around games. The left side struggled at the end of the day, but you cannot throw out what happened in the first 50 minutes of the game.
However, after going back and watching the game and talking with a few people who have much more knowledge then I do, I would not be ready to throw in the towel on young Logan Howland. Source I spoke with was encouraged by what they saw and they believe this weekend against Maine could be a nice opportunity for him to clean his technique up. We will see.
DT: High 4* (Last week: 5*)
The Sooners defense completely shut down the Ole Miss run game and that all starts with the interior defensive line. Once again this unit delivered what they needed to in order to put OU in a position to be able to make the opposing offense one-dimensional.
Jayden Jackson and Damonic Williams were very effective and I thought DaJon Terry and Gracen Halton played at a very high level as well. Would have liked to see a few more snaps for David Stone, but I expect those to start coming over the final four games.
This has been a fun group to watch all year and they have been the best and most consistent group on the OU defense.
DE: Low 3* (Last week: 4*)
Can’t knock this group for how they contributed to the top notch run defense the Sooners threw out there against Ole Miss.
However, the lack of pressure and steady containment of Dart in the pocket helped allow the Ole Miss passing game flourish even though they were missing a huge part of the attack in Tre Harris.
I thought Ethan Downs was steady but he is not a big pass rush guy as we know and R Mason Thomas did flash a few times, but the pass rush as a whole was inconsistent.
Felt like Trace Ford did a good job against the run and in coverage, but he was not a problem for Ole Miss when it came to protecting Dart and I thought Caiden Woullard was on to something early, but he never found his groove.
LB: High 3* (Last week: Low 4*)
I thought Danny Stutsman and Kip Lewis did a really nice job against the run. Dasan McCullough and Kobie McKinzie also played a very physical game in that regard as well.
Stutsman and Lewis led the team in tackles with 9 and 7 respectively, but man…as I am typing this I think an Ole Miss tight end just caught another pass.
Ole Miss tight ends Caden Prieskorn (5) and Dae’Quan Wright (3) combined for 8 catches for 125 yards and 1 TD. That means Ole Miss tight ends averaged 16 yards per reception. Thats just nonsense to allow, particularly over 8 receptions.
They were good against the run, but flat out liabilities in coverage and responsibilities in the passing game.
CB: 1* (Last week: High 3*)
A tale of two sides…
Dez Malone and Kani Walker were not just riding the struggle bus, but they were driving the damn thing this week. Yes, the holes in the zone were way too big and some of that falls on the safety/cheetah/LB…but man, these guys had way too many ‘wtf’ moments than ‘wow, they made a play’ moments.
On the other side, you didn’t hear much about Eli Bowen…and in this case, that’s a good thing as a corner. Bowen was stout in coverage and when he was tested, he only allowed 1 catch for a gain of 5 yards.
Lets play a game…instead of “Where is Waldo”…where is Jacobe Johnson? Oh, wait, he probably was watching offensive film prepping for his opportunity to play wide receiver (I kid).
S: 3* (Last week: 3*)
Pretty average play from an above-average room against Ole Miss.
I thought Robert Spears Jennings had more impact than Billy Bowman as he was a big part of limiting and shutting down the Ole Miss rushing attack.
Bowman’s most noticeable play on the day was a face mask penalty.
Also, not gonna talk about Woodi Washington at Cheetah as there really is nothing positive happening in that situation.
ST: 3* (Last week: 4*)
Aside from one nice return from Peyton Bowen, not a lot to really talk about special teams-wise.
Elzinga was fine punting, he’s been better.
Kickoffs and the extra points were good.
Coverage was fine.
Wrap-up Thoughts on This Past Weekend
– Super K – Posted on: October 29, 2024
Charlie and James has covered most everything from this past weekend but I want to emphasize a few things.
***First, Arnold is going to be really good. Despite the pressure he’s facing, he has an instinct to keep his eyes downfield. He’s also the type of QB you need in that he’s willing to throw guys open. Coverage is too tight in this league to not have that. He should be the class of the SEC next year.
***The OL so far this season has really struggled in pass pro. A few things on that but, as I’ve said before, you cannot talk about this OL without talking about the significant difference in competition from this year to any years in recent memory…
***In the Big 12 the Sooners were accustomed to facing a defensive line draft pick every other game or so. The faced three or four on one line, this weekend. Multiple of them are projected to go early. This cannot be emphasized enough.
***To the point, above, as I said recently, the Sooners biggest issue right now is holding up against the athletic edges. The Sooners have now faced multiple future first round edges. Normally, Oklahoma has a couple of draft picks on the edges. They have some guys on campus and on their way who will be but right now it’s just tough. And without some good blocking TEs and backs, it’s that much more difficult…
***Add in the elite defensive linemen they’re facing and it’s a bad combination. This is why being balanced is so critical and why for most of the Ole Miss game, there weren’t any sacks…
***But as one poster noted, as soon as OU was in the catch up game and couldn’t continue to balance the run and the pass, it was over.
***I continue to emphasize this because while the Sooners have had to modify their run game choices and pass pro choices, ultimately they’ve just go to continue to get better on the edges.
***I know we and others have talked about the success of the run game but I don’t think it’s been praised enough. A couple weeks ago, UGA held Texas to something like 30 yards in the run game. They started to tee off on Texas’ talent offensive line. After the game, Kirby Smart said that in the SEC you have to be able to run the ball. He’s absolutely right. This is not the Big 12 and isn’t going to be the Big 12 next year or the year after.
***We saw glimpses of the OU run game emerging the week or two before this Ole Miss game. But with a little bit a balance from the pass game, it really got going this past weekend. I was really impressed.
***The Sooners’ defense to stuff the run game was the story on the other side. I was surprised that despite that they weren’t able to take away the pass, especially because without Harris, I really wasn’t very impressed with the Ole Miss receivers.
***I know the narrative in general has been that the OU defense did enough to win but I don’t think I agree with that. Last week I noted that while OU’s defense is good, it’s pretty much in line with other defenses in the SEC.
***Here are the games Ole Miss has played vs the SEC…
Sooners 26 points were in line with LSU and South Carolina and not as good as Kentucky.
So, I suppose you could make the argument that 26 points is enough to win but this is a different league and against Ole Miss it wouldn’t have been good enough in three of their four SEC games.
***It was a game where the Sooners ran the ball well but didn’t do enough in the pass game (for various reasons) and the defense defended the run well enough but didn’t defend the pass game well enough.
***Overall, it was a much more competitive game and while it’s a low bar at this point in the season, it was progress. It tells us that this team can make a bowl game which I think is just absolutely critical.
Unexpected Arrival
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 29, 2024
While the Sooners offense has struggled over the course of the season, over the last two weeks, an unexpectedly big impact player has emerged from a rather small package (5’9) in true freshman walk on wide receiver Jacob Jordan.
Jordan arrived in Norman under the radar of what appeared to be a stellar class for Emmett Jones of Zion Kearney, Zion Ragins, Ivan Carreon and Kelly Daniels.
While Kearney, Ragins, and Carreon have seen some run this year, they have combined to record 12 receptions on the year and Jordan has recorded 12 receptions of his own in only two games.
Jordan chose to walk on at OU over scholarship offers from Texas Tech, North Texas and Furman and it may have taken 7 games for him to get on the field, but he has made the most of his opportunity.
Take a look at the receiving stats for OU in the last two games:
Jacob Jordan 12 catches for 124 yards and 1 touchdown.
Bauer Sharp 11 catches for 62 yards and 1 touchdown
Jovantae Barnes 9 catches for 78 yards
JJ Hester 5 catches for 63 yards
Brenen Thompson 2 catches for 59 yards and 1 touchdown
Jake Roberts 2 catches for 13 yards
Zion Ragins 1 catch for negative 4 yards
Taylor Tatum 1 catch for 18 yards
Sam Franklin 1 catch for 7 yards
Pretty cool story for Jordan and a nice addition to an offense that is trying to find its way toward consistency and effectiveness.
Sooners QB Jackson Arnold noted that during his timeout, he and Jordan worked a lot together and it certainly looks like they are on the same page when the ball is snapped.
Did Arnold find his Drake Stoops? We will see, but Jordans career is off to a promising start!
Sometimes Things Just Workout
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 29, 2024
When it comes to validating and justifying NIL expenditures, or in this case non-expenditures, as Garth Brooks would say…”Some of Gods greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”.
This past offseason, LSU freshman offensive tackle Lance Heard entered the portal and he quickly became one of the most coveted players on the market.
The Sooners entered the fray and put forth a very robust NIL package (short money) to go along with the opportunity to work under offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh who has a great history of developing transfers into high round NFL draft choices (long money).
The Tennessee Volunteers were having none of it. They wanted to make sure to lock down Heard and made him a rogue NIL offer (some will tell you double OU’s offer, I cannot verify that, but we do know it was larger than OU’s) and quickly locked up his services.
Let me tell you how that is going for Tennessee.
According to PFF, the Volunteers have played 57 players on the offensive side of the ball this year. Super K and I were having a discussion about OU’s offensive line woes and we went to check on the dividends that Heard was paying for the Volunteers.
I started scrolling the list of the Volunteers offensive players with the highest PFF ranking on top. I scrolled through the list a couple of times, but the list only shows 23 players at a time and once I got into the low 50’s I would go back to the top because certainly, Lance Heard would be among the top 50 rated Tennessee offensive players.
After a couple of minutes of not finding Heard, I thought I finally hit on him at number 56! But alas, that was not LANCE Heard that was little-used offensive tackle Jeremias Heard (8 snaps). So, back to the top, I went…I had to be missing him somewhere.
So I spent a few more minutes until I used the ‘ctrl+F’ window to search for ‘HEARD’.
The box indicated that there were two ‘HEARD’s’ so I pushed the arrow to bring me to the first ‘Heard’ and once again I was staring at Jeremias. However…right below Jeremias Heard, in slot 57 (which I had never scrolled to apparently) was one ‘Lance Heard #53 T’.
Lance Heard, the jewel of the portal, is the lowest-rated offensive player on the Tennessee roster to this point of the season.
His rankings are as follows:
57. Lance Heard – 324 snaps – 42.8 Overall – 56.4 Pass block – 44.0 Run block – 4 penalties
That is bad-bad. Like reallllllllly bad. For comparison’s sake, here are the ratings of every OU offensive lineman to have registered stats for OU this season.
Michael Tarquin – 498 snaps – 67.1 Overall – 67.8 Pass block – 66.0 Run block – 2 penalties
Troy Everett – 193 snaps – 63.1 Overall – 83.1 Pass block – 55.3 Run block – 0 penalties
Febechi Nwaiwu – 568 snaps – 60.1 Overall – 71.6 Pass block – 52.7 Run block – 3 penalties
Logan Howland – 150 snaps – 57.6 Overall – 52.6 Pass block – 58.1 Run block – 0 penalties
Heath Ozaera – 286 snaps – 56.4 Overall – 69.5 Pass block – 51.9 Run block – 2 penalties
Jacob Sexton – 510 snaps – 55.2 Overall – 47.1 Pass block – 58.2 Run block – 4 penalties
Jake Taylor – 169 snaps – 53.4 Overall – 60.4 Pass block – 48.2 Run block – 0 penalties
Spencer Brown – 108 snaps – 53.2 Overall – 56.4 Pass block – 54.8 Run block – 1 penalty
Josh Bates – 156 snaps – 52.9 Overall – 57.2 Pass block – 54.1 Run block – 1 penalty
Branson Hickman – 187 snaps – 51.7 Overall – 61.8 Pass block – 48.2 Run block – 1 penalty
Now, I am not writing this to defend OU’s offensive line play. I am bringing this up to point out that it looks like whoever was in charge of the NIL offer to Lance Heard…they made the right evaluation and decision to not entertain some ludicrous offer that could/would have handcuffed the funds available for distribution for a guy who has been a complete disappointment to this point.
Here is another thing to note. Again, while the OU OL has struggled, they have done so against some stout defenses. OU has faced 3 teams in the top 10 in defensive stop rates. Tennessee (1), Texas (2), and Ole Miss (8) are all top 10 in stop rate and they will play another top 10 defensive stop rate team in Alabama (10).
Lance Heard has played in 5 games with only Alabama as a top-10 stop-rate foe. The other games he has played have been Chattanooga, NC State, Arkansas, and Florida. So the level of competition that Heard has faced is nowhere near as tough as the opponents that the Sooners OL has faced.
Here is the thing…a lot of people wanted Lance Heard out of the portal, including OU. Right now it looks like a lot of teams dodged a financial bullet.
Of course, if he had gone to another school, there is a chance he could be in a better spot and developed into an impact player. Also, he is still just a sophomore and there is a lot of football in front of him in which he could develop into a fine offensive tackle. But right now, I cannot help but to think Tennessee is going through some buyer’s remorse over the price they paid for the 57th-rated offensive player on their roster.
Sourced Team Note | Lets Get Physical
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 30, 2024
Just a quick note from practice last week…
***Source I spoke with talked about how physical the practices still are at this point of the season. Ahead of the Ole Miss game, source noted that “They are going as hard as they did in the middle of fall camp”.
***Nothing earth-shattering there, and it only confirms what Brent Venables himself said a week prior when he noted that they have even scrapped some scout sessions to go good on good.
***Over the first two years of the Venables era, we have seen the defense appear to wear down. So far, to this point of the year, we have not seen a dramatic dropoff, but this is the period when we should be paying close attention to it.
***My takeaway is that Brent is not doing anything different than he has in all his years as a defensive coordinator. It worked for him before and he obviously believes in the practice.
***I am interested in seeing if in year three, the team has grown more accustomed to this practice or if they once again seem to be a bit worn down by the time the last third of the season gets going. I will say, that I know several other programs that streamline practices as the year goes on and they not only go for shorter periods of live work, but they also take some of the physicality out of their work.
Off-Season Additions
– Super K – Posted on: October 31, 2024
Earlier this week, in one of the threads, we talked a bit about what this team is going to need to add in the off-season.
First, let me say that nothing I say is meant to conceded who will or won’t be on the staff. As I’ve said before, and I still maintain, the remainder of the season will have consequences from the top down.
But regardless of what anyone might think of the coaching/decision making, I believe BV has assembled a team with a lot of talent.
As such, I believe this team is ready to make a run next year and I don’t think a lot of personnel additions are needed.
OFFENSE
***I think JA has the right stuff. Despite the amount of pressure he’s under, his tendency is to keep his eyes downfield. He’s a guy who will through his WR open. He’s pretty accurate. He’s a willing and able runner. I think he has a chance to be the class of the SEC next season.
***The WR room, once healthy, should be stacked next year. I don’t really see the need to add anyone from the portal unless they’re absolute home-run.
***The TE room needs upgrading. I think it’s hard not to put this on coaching. How many years has it been since OU has developed an NFL TE? Yeah, not acceptable. This room is going to need a complete overhaul from the top down.
***The running back room has talent and adding from the portal (Sam Franklin) just doesn’t seem to matter much. OU has had all of one NFL draft pick at RB in the past few years. This room needs to get better but I don’t know that the talent is the issue.
***OL is the hot topic and there is no doubt the pass pro hasn’t been acceptable. But let’s start with the run game. I’m still pretty blown away at how well the Sooners ran the ball last week. And, they did that blowing holes up. Curious to see how they run the ball against Maine. In pass pro, the edges seem to be the biggest culprits. But as we’ve maintained for a while, we believe Logan Howland can be excellent. He has the upside. BV echoed that sentiment. Howland just needs to continue to develop and he should be ready by next year. Sexton will be better next year. Taylor will be better next year. So, adding another year of strength and development might be enough to get that room right. With the two very talented OTs, they have coming in, the Sooners might just need to add one good tackle out of the portal – assuming there is one.
DEFENSE
***On the defensive line, the edge talent is there. Will it get developed? It better. Given how this room has been operating, I would assume they’ll go after a portal guy. But it should be a year where we see the young guys finally shine.
R Mason was my pre-season pick for break out player on the DL. He’s looked pretty good. They need to make sure he stays.
***Interior DL will probably need to add a talented portal guy. But the most important off-season move there will be to keep their young guys happy. Jayden Jackson is going to have some suitors.
Bates has done a heck of a job coaching this position.
***The linebacker room is very talented and well coached. Stutsman will be gone but there are guys ready to take over. Don’t know that there will need to be any additions here.
***The secondary will lose Billy Bowman but BV has praised the young safeties and guys like RSJ and Bowen have already shown they can play and play well. Dolby should be back. Gentry should be back. Kani has another year. Bowen has been playing really well. Both the corner and safety rooms have been built from the ground up and have new talented guys coming in. Not saying they won’t go to the portal to add a little but it may not be necessary.
Bottom line for me is I don’t think this roster is going to need a ton of additions. I think it’s been built well.
One on One’s | Maine – 2024
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 31, 2024
The Sooners are set to host Maine this weekend.
The Bears are an FCS team and they are 4-4 on the season.
They do nothing special on offense or defense and really, I cannot find one intriguing matchup that is even worth discussion at this point.
The Sooners are 35 point favorites for a reason, even with their offensive struggles.
So instead of doing some ‘One on One’s’, here are a couple things I will be paying attention to on Saturday.
Secondary play.
I do not expect the Bears to be able to run the ball effectively at all on Saturday and I think their only plan can be to get the ball out quickly. I expect to see a lot of short passes and screens.
This will give the OU secondary some great opportunities at turning the ball over, which is something they have not been doing this year as much as they have in the first two years of the Venables era.
The only way I see Maine being able to move the ball is via missed assignments and busts which would come from overzealous defenders and bad eye discipline.
The Oklahoma defensive backs will have plenty of opportunities and this game should provide them ample opportunity to get back to basics and watch how their play is rewarded when they do the right thing.
Sooners run game.
OU made strides last week against Ole Miss in the first half in the ground game. Truth be told, they have been making strides in that area for the last 3 games against some really good defensive fronts.
While the Sooners will be rolling out a banged up offensive line, the guys that do go out there have no excuse not to dominate the Bears. Should be a good confidence boosting game for the Sooners on the ground.
The one thing you want to see, again, is guys not cheating the system and getting away with it because it is an inferior opponent. OU needs Logan Howland to gain confidence and get experience. The timing of this game could not be better for Oklahoma and I think the Sooners can likely name the amount of yards they want to run for.
So while we will talk about the offensive line in a couple minutes, the opportunity for the running backs is out there against Maine. Not only do the linemen need some feel good moments, a nice day filled with some long runs and a handful of touchdowns will go a long way for a guy like Jovantae Barnes who has been banging around out there without much to show for it. Everyone can use a big day for their confidence.
Young Offensive Linemen
As I mentioned above, this is a big game for Howland but this game also presents a great opportunity for OU to get some of those young offensive linemen off the bench and onto the field.
Again, the Sooners should not be at all concerned about the scoreboard for this game and every player they have on their roster would likely start for Maine. So with the state of the offensive line room being what it is with the injuries and whatnot, this game serves as an opportunity to get guys like Eddie Pierre Louis, Isaiah Autry Dent, and Eugene Brooks some much needed run.
The entire fan base has been clamoring for some EPL, well, there is no reason to not give him three quarters of playing time. You know Howland will be getting a ton of reps as will Ozaeta, and I think you could see Brooks play in his fourth game of the year and we will likely see Aurtry-Dent make his first appearance.
The guys who have been playing a lot could certainly use a break after the first quarter, and I think it will be fun to watch the young guys get out there. Hopefully, that’s how it plays out, at least for the second half.
