Coach Speak: Oklahoma Needs Third Down Improvement to Help Shake Skid

The Sooners didn't lean on excuses after a poor performance against No. 22-ranked Texas.

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s quest for answers bled over into a third straight week on Monday.

The Sooners (3-3) got embarrassed 49-0 by the No. 22-ranked Texas Longhorns on Saturday, and things could get worse this week.

If OU can’t find a way to get back on track, the Sooners are staring down the barrel of having a 17-game winning streak over Kansas snapped.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and defensive coordinator Ted Roof emphasized the need to get better across the board on Monday as the Sooners look to break their three-game losing streak.

Time Not an Issue

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel failed to clear concussion protocol last week, putting Davis Beville in line to get the start.

Missing the starter, Oklahoma’s passing game was non-existent. The Longhorns held the Sooners to 39 yards through the air, but OU only turned to true freshman Nick Evers in the final moments of the contest.

Both Beville and General Booty arrived on campus after spring practice concluded, putting both quarterbacks well behind the pace to learn the offense, but Lebby didn’t put the poor offensive performance on that fact.

“At the end of the day, the expectation is to coach better first, and play better second,” Lebby said. “With that being said, obviously, a very short amount of time that Davis has been here to get him up to speed with how we want to operate and how we want to do things.

“But again, the expectation is to play a heck of a lot better and coach a heck of a lot better."

The Sooners will hope Gabriel can give it a go against Kansas, as the he went through warmups on the field last Saturday in the Cotton Bowl. It was reported Sunday that he's been cleared and will play against KU.

Guarding Against the Portal

Any team going through a rough patch will understandably begin to worry about players opting to hit the transfer portal in today’s college football.

Oklahoma is no different.

The Sooners have dove well below their own preseason expectations, which is bound to cause frustration inside any team.

Coaches could be tempted to start rolling out freshman to keep them engaged and to steer them clear of thinking about entering the portal, but Roof is still pleased with the focus and intent he’s seen from his defense at practice.

“I love our locker room,” He said. “I love the way the guys have approached it during the week – their buy-in, their commitment, time spent on task. I love our locker room. That’s human nature. We can’t give in to that. We can’t let circumstances dictate the level of commitment and I don’t sense that from our guys at all.

“I expect them to be fully engaged and moving forward so we can get this thing back on track.”

Fatigue Setting In

After the historic loss in the Cotton Bowl, OU coach Brent Venables hinted that his team is fatigued.

“Some ways we looked like maybe a tired football team,” he said. “There's probably several reasons why.”

Defensively, the depth continues to take hits.

Linebacker T.D. Roof was lost to injury before the season, and Shane Whitter reportedly is done for the year, further compounding OU’s problem in the middle of the defense.

Safety Billy Bowman was also missing Saturday, forcing Woodi Washington to slide to the back end.

Still, Roof said there’s plenty the team can do during the week and during games to stay fresh.

“We look at everything,” he said. “Every piece of data we get, every step of every practice. So we look at everything and make decisions moving forward. … And part of it is we’ve got to get off the field on third down.

“If we want to play less we’ve got to get off the field on third down. And when we have opportunities to do that we have to take advantage of them and get off the field. Because if you look at what’s happened when we haven’t on third down, it’s resulted in points for the opposition a lot. Way too much this season. So gotta do a better job there to get off the field to cut down on the reps.”

Oklahoma will host the No. 19-ranked Jayhawks (5-1) Saturday at 11 a.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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