The Oklahoma Sooners got off to a strong start in their 51-3 win over the Temple Owls. They did just enough on offense to take advantage of a great defensive effort.
Oklahoma knew they didn’t need to go deep into the playbook to beat the Owls. While the offensive performance isn’t quite what we’d expect from the Sooners, it didn’t need to be for OU to win and cover the 42.5-point spread.
There was a lot of good in Oklahoma’s win over the Owls and some stuff that has to improve as the Sooners move through the 2024 season. Here’s a look at the first installment of The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly from week one.
The Good: Defense is Back in Norman
It’s just one game, but the Oklahoma Sooners defense looked great against the Temple Owls on Friday night.
The Sooners held Temple to less than 200 yards of total offense and just 1.9 yards per carry. Oklahoma’s defense recorded six turnovers, the most in a game since 2003. They also recorded six sacks and nine tackles for loss. And the production came from everyone.
The Owls couldn’t get much going offensively as the Sooners frustrated them with a relentless defensive effort.
The Sooners will face tougher teams down the road, but you have to be happy about what they put on the field to start the 2024 season.
The Bad: Run Game Needs Work
Yes, the Oklahoma Sooners ran for 217 yards. You take the 28 yards from sacks out of the equation and the yardage number jumps to 245. On the surface, that looks pretty good. But nearly a third of that rushing total came on the final drive of the game when Michael Hawkins and Taylor Tatum added 76 yards to the total.
In the first half, OU ran for 4.1 yards per carry. By contrast, the Sooners averaged 9.1 yards per carry in the second half. A much better number, but Temple went deeper into the depth chart as the game went on.
Yes, the offense had a vanilla game plan, but the first-team offense should have been more effective against the Temple Owls. They were without Jake Taylor and lost Branson Hickman to injury in the early going.
The Sooners will have an opportunity to right the ship when they take on a Houston Cougars team that allowed UNLV to rush for nearly 200 yards and average 4.1 yards per carry.
The Ugly: Wide Receiver Depth takes another Hit
The Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver room was lauded this offseason for being one of the deepest in the nation. Well, now that depth is going to be put to the test as the Sooners suffered another significant injury.
Jalil Farooq, who was third on the team in receiving yards in 2023, was expected to have another strong season but suffered a broken foot in the first quarter of the win over Temple. That’s the second significant injury suffered by the wide receiver group over the last month after Jayden Gibson was lost for the season.
Nic Anderson has been banged up and is expected to be ready to roll this week against the Cougars, and Oklahoma will need the breakout star from 2023 to have a repeat season this year.
Deion Burks looked good and Brenen Thompson is off to a nice start to the season. But the Sooners need Anderson back and will need a younger player to earn a significant role in the wide receiver rotation.
Oklahoma can’t afford another significant wide receiver injury.
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Publish date : 2024-09-01 06:32:00
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