Postgame thoughts: Oklahoma 51, Temple 3
I have yet to re-watch the Oklahoma Sooners’ season-opening win over the Temple Owls or read any of the reactions from the coaching staff. Candidly, Temple is one of the worst FBS teams that I have ever seen. That colors everything about my perceptions of OU’s performance.
In other words, a 51-3 final sounds dominant, but this performance offered ample reason for concern about the 2024 season. With that in mind, a few knee-jerk observations.
*The offensive line was messy, and that is being charitable.
Temple’s starting defensive line weighed in at 300, 280 and 265 pounds, with an edge player listed at 225. OU’s big uglies struggled most of the game to move them, leaving the ball carriers with little breathing room. Taking out sacks, the running game netted about 6.7 yards per attempt against what should have been a physically overmatched defense. Note that OU rushed for 85 yards on seven carries on its final drive of the game once both squads cleared the benches.
The OL didn’t fare much better protecting quarterback Jackson Arnold. The Owls sacked him three times and pressured him way too often.
A patchwork lineup doesn’t explain all the problems that surfaced on the OL on Friday night. Position coach Bill Bedenbaugh has plenty of time to get the group’s house in order; it looks at this point like OL will be a governor on the offense, though. Also, don’t be surprised if some of the youngsters get a shot at meaningful time sooner than later.
*The receiver ranks have thinned out quickly with Jalil Farooq now on the shelf. Between Farooq and Jayden Gibson, OU is looking at potentially going the entire season missing two foundational members of the rotation.
The performance by the rest of the receivers suggested the underclassmen will get a chance to make a mark sooner than later. Although Andrel Anthony’s return to the field was encouraging, he’s probably weeks away from reclaiming his status as a reliable target in the passing game. Meanwhile, JJ Hester still looks like a practice legend when the lights are on. Brenen Thompson has plenty left to do to show he’s not a one-trick pony.
On the bright side, transfers Deion Burks and Bauer Sharp didn’t disappoint – Sharp’s willingness to mix it up as a blocker seemed evident.
Plenty of room to grow here, especially with Nic Anderson’s imminent return to the lineup.
*As for Arnold, the stat sheet doesn’t look pretty, but he played well. He has a tendency to put too much snap on the ball on shorter routes, but he appeared to be putting the ball in the right spots. The deep ball to Farooq on OU’s opening drive was beautiful.
(Keep in mind that Temple’s turnover fetish meant OU started with the ball in Owl territory four times, so there weren’t always a lot of yards to be had for the offense.)
*Most of the issues on third down stemmed from aforementioned problems. Of the 12 conversion opportunities OU faced, only one was fewer than five yards. In general, mistakes on first and second down put the offense in tough spots.
It goes without saying, of course, that the circumstances of the conversion opportunities don’t justify such a poor rate of hitting on them.
*I won’t dwell on the defensive effort for long. Everything looked awesome. However, Temple’s offense might be the single worst unit of any team in the country.
It feels better to say that than trying to explain away a lackluster effort, as has been the case in these situations too frequently for many years with this program. Just keep playing that way.
*Special teams? Tremendous.
*Bottom line: OU fans should prepare themselves to watch a much different kind of team this year than we’re used to seeing. The good news is that teams often get better during a season.