How Oklahoma's Offense Is Using a Successful Half to Gain Confidence and Improve

The Sooners have struggled offensively this season but showed life in the first half against Ole Miss on Saturday.

Oct 26, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Oklahoma Sooners tight end Bauer Sharp (10) reacts with offensive linemen Heath Ozaeta (77) and Troy Everett (52) after a touchdown during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

There seemed to be no hope for Oklahoma’s offense, but at least for a half of football on Saturday, there was a glimmer. 

The Sooners ultimately fell to then-No. 18 Ole Miss 26-14 and extended their losing streak to three. It was a loss for a program above accepting moral victories. But it was still evidence that such a program — one with seven Heisman Trophy winners, offenses that innovated college football and five former quarterbacks who could be starting any given Sunday — might still exist in Norman. 

“Through the course of the year, that’s the hope, that improvement happens sooner than later,” OU coach Brent Venables said. “Some of that has been more incremental than you want, but it’s certainly been there.”

The offensive standards are so high at OU that an offensive coordinator, who was an alumni and national champion for the Sooners, was fired last week after only seven games calling plays. Seth Littrell’s offense was near the bottom of the FBS in nearly every offensive statistic and on one occasion Venables even called it “crap.” 

But in Joe Joe Finley’s first chance to call the plays at his alma-mater, the Sooners stormed down the field against a top-15 defense before a failed fourth-down conversion on the Rebels’ 2-yard line ripped the pages out of a storybook opening script. 

The Sooners reached the end zone in two of their five possessions in the first half to gain their first halftime lead over an SEC opponent all season, 14-10. It was the most points OU had scored in the opening half during conference play. Those 14 points in one half alone also outdid the Sooners' point total in their last two outings.

Jackson Arnold hit tight end Bauer Sharp for an 11-yard TD pass on the second possession, capping an eight-play, 60-yard drive. OU then punted and fumbled on its next two chances. Then the Sooners got the ball on their own 8-yard line with 2:40 left in the half. They drove down 92 yards in 2:34, exclaimed with a TD pass from Arnold to Jacob Jordan.

OU finished the first half with 235 total yards, 125 of which came on the ground after the Sooners had struggled mightily rushing the ball against SEC defenses. Even more impressive considering Ole Miss entered the game allowing only 66.6 rushing yards a game, let alone double that in one half. 

The Sooners didn’t score again in the second half, though, while adding only 94 more total yards and 22 rushing yards. OU's offensive line also gave up a program-record 10 sacks.

“Obviously it was a tale of two halves,” Finley said postgame. “I thought the guys came out after an extremely hard week on them and came out swinging. That was the only thing I asked for was come out and fight for your brother and strain for every inch because we’re not that far off. And for one half today you proved who this football team, who this offense, can be. 

“Now it’s my job to put them in a better situation in the second half. But I think we did a really good job for a half against a really good defense. And that’s what we got to build upon, create some confidence in these guys because moving forward they can play against anybody in the country when they’re on point and when I put them in good situations.” 

If anything, that first half was revealing – both to fans and the players – of not only what this offense is capable of, but that there are still the same flaws even with a new play-caller. 

With only four games left, including a matchup with Maine on Saturday, OU needs two more wins to reach a bowl game and avoid a losing record. But in order to accomplish that, the offense not only needs that shot of confidence from Saturday, but also still needs to be even better when it lines up across from SEC defenses. 

“Y'all saw the first half,” running back Taylor Tatum said. “I saw what we can be and what we plan to be for the rest of the year. We're just taking all the positives from that and just moving onto next week and the rest of the year and just focusing on us. That's the main goal, is focusing on us and focusing on getting better individually everywhere. Everywhere, the team has to get better. Everywhere has something they can improve at. That's what we're focused on."