Bill Bedenbaugh Doesn't 'Mince Words', and Oklahoma OT Walter Rouse Loves It
NORMAN — Oklahoma is still searching for consistency up front on offense.
The No. 19-ranked Sooners closed out SMU last Saturday, scoring a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, to win 28-11. But OU lacked sustained offensive success — especially in the second and third quarters.
“Running game… we were just hot and cold,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said on Monday. “I think I said it after the game, we were a little too conservative at times. We probably should have thrown it a little more to give our guys a little bit of air and give us a chance to make some plays on the perimeter.”
Lebby was right.
On Oklahoma’s four scoring drives, the Sooners marched a combined 239 yard down the field. In OU’s eight other drives? The offense only moved 126 yards.
Part of the struggles came from a touch and go rushing attack.
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Tawee Walker ended up with 117 yards on 21 carries, but as a whole the unit only rushed for 4.0 yards per carry against the Mustangs.
Though the Sooners came out on top, OU left tackle Walter Rouse was far from pleased with the offensive line’s performance.
“Obviously it’s always good to get a win,” said Rouse, “but… I just think we could’ve done a lot better. I feel like we should’ve put that game away a lot earlier.
“… The effort and the want-to was there, the wanting to finish, but the technique needs to get a lot better.”
Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh did some shuffling on Saturday, rotating starting left guard Savion Byrd with interior lineman Troy Everett.
Regardless of the personnel, Rouse believes there are still improvements that need to be made up front before Big 12 play starts.
“Coach (Brent) Venables says ‘effort with technique’ all the time,” Rouse said. “That was definitely one of the takeaways. We got to pick that up, you know, going into Tulsa.”
When trying to get the best out of his unit, Rouse said Bedenbaugh doesn’t “mince words.” It’s a coaching style that has produced numerous NFL offensive lineman, including Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris just in the last year, and it also was a part of what made playing at Oklahoma so attractive to Rouse.
“I came to a place like Oklahoma because I didn’t want to just like, ‘OK, fix this but you did really good here,’” Rouse said. “Or, ‘That’s OK, but I really like this.’
“… He has such a high standard that something that we may have done well, we could’ve done a lot better. Like, you may have blocked him, but how did you block him? Was it with the right technique? If it wasn’t with the right technique, then when we go play someone like Texas, Alabama or someone in a championship or something like that, then you’re going to get exposed.”
The Sooners are looking to get running backs Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk going this weekend against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, as both can add a more explosive element to OU’s running game.
Even with the hiccups, Oklahoma still enters Saturday with the nation’s 32nd-best rushing attack. But the quest to improve won’t stop — certainly not this early in the year.
“(We’ve) got to be consistent with it,” Rouse said. “I don’t think we’re going to be perfect each and every game, but we got to be able to be consistent enough that in that first drive, we got to score, you know?
“I expect to score each drive after that. That’s the confidence level we can have going into each of these games.”
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