All Sooners

Oklahoma 2023 Report Cards: Offense Rolled Despite Offensive Line Inconsistency

Bill Bedenbaugh introduced three new starters, struggled to find consistency and shuffled the front five all year as the Sooners still produced big numbers.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma 2023 Report Cards: Offense Rolled Despite Offensive Line Inconsistency
Oklahoma 2023 Report Cards: Offense Rolled Despite Offensive Line Inconsistency /
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Oklahoma’s offensive line was definitely not a team strength in 2023, yet was good enough to power the Sooners to a top-five ranking in numerous national statistical categories.

The OU offensive line was something of a conundrum all season.

Oklahoma ranked 43rd in the nation in yards per carry (4.55) and 34th nationally in sacks allowed per game (1.54), but the Sooners ranked No. 6 nationally in passing yards, No. 4 in points per game and No. 8 in points per drive.

Perhaps equally revealing, the Sooners ranked 11th among 14 Big 12 Conference teams in pass blocking grade, as well as 11th in run blocking grade, according to Pro Football Focus, while enjoying the league’s top passing offensive grade and its No. 3 overall offensive grade.

Extending those PFF numbers, only left tackle Walter Rouse (83.8) posted a championship pass blocking grade among the OU linemen this year. Right guard McKade Mettauer (69.8), center Andrew Raym (69.8), right tackles Tyler Guyton (72.9) and Jacob Sexton (52.6), and left guards Cayden Green (71.4) and Savion Byrd (56.2) all posted PFF pass blocking grades below 73. Raym (16), Mettauer (14), Guyton (12), Green (12) and Sexton (12) all allowed double-digit quarterback pressures (Rouse only allowed six).

2023 Oklahoma Report Cards

  • Jan. 9: Offensive line
  • Jan. 10: Defensive end
  • Jan. 11: Wide receiver
  • Jan. 12: Defensive tackle
  • Jan. 13: Tight end
  • Jan. 14: Linebacker
  • Jan. 15: Running back
  • Jan. 16: Defensive back
  • Jan. 17: Special teams
  • Jan. 18: Cornerback
  • Jan. 19: Quarterback
  • Jan. 20: Coaches

In all, OU quarterbacks were pressured 74 times and hit 19 times on pass plays with nine total sacks.

Rouse was also the Sooners’ top run blocker this season, with a PFF grade of 66.2. Byrd (66.0), Sexton (64.1), Guyton (60.5), Raym (60.2), Mettauer (52.2) and Green (49.8) all finished down the list.

Of Oklahoma’s 54 offensive penalties this season, 34 were committed by offensive linemen, led by Rouse’s nine.

Bill Bedenbaugh should probably get a raise for patching together a remade offensive line last spring and mostly sticking with it. He had to replace two tackles off to the NFL in first-round pick Anton Harrison and third-rounder Wanya Morris, and shuffled his left guard to the right side after three-year starter Chris Murray graduated.

But Bedenbaugh didn’t have his best year — far from it.

McKade Mettauer
McKade Mettauer / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Depth wasn’t great in 2023, but it was just good enough to pull Green off the bench to help save the Texas game, and good enough for Sexton to finish the year strong at right tackle.

Actually, right tackle is one of the oddities of 2023 that will likely remain unanswered. Guyton is a projected first-round NFL Draft pick and did suffer a midseason concussion, but when he was deemed healthy enough to play again, he remained on the bench as Sexton took over the spot with 410 total snaps.

Miami-Ohio transfer Caleb Shaffer didn’t play much (196 snaps) but did add to the mix in the Alamo Bowl. Appalachian State transfer Troy Everett was given a good shot but often struggled against the Big 12’s top d-linemen and held up fine in the bowl game, finishing the season with 398 snaps. Three true freshman were in the two-deep in San Antonio as Bedenbaugh had to replace three starters against Arizona.

Now Bedenbaugh moves forward with five new starters in 2024, including Sexton, who played 410 total snaps this season and started the final four games. But next year’s line already appears to be leaning heavily on the transfer portal.

Replacing Raym won’t be easy. He was a three-year starter who played 2,196 career snaps, per PFF, including a team-high 874 this year. Same with Mettauer, who started three years at Cal and two at OU and finished with 3,423 career snaps at guard. Rouse only played one year at OU but logged a career-high 858 snaps (second on the team) this year and finished his career with 3,410 including his four years as a starter at Stanford.

Green’s shocking departure to Missouri was a gut-punch for Bedenbaugh as well as Green’s teammates, as he played 568 snaps and started five of his 11 games as a true freshman. His future in Norman appeared bright.

Byrd was supposed to be the Sooners’ next great o-lineman but couldn’t find consistency, logged just 181 snaps, lost his starting job and played in just eight games before transferring to SMU.

Guyton could be an NFL starter next year but he played just one game (18 total snaps) in the Sooners’ final four contests.

Everyone knows Oklahoma offensive linemen are graded on a steep curve — Bedenbaugh’s curve — and while this year should be considered good, Bedenbaugh would say it clearly wasn’t good enough.

AllSooners OL Grades

  • Hoover: C-
  • Chapman: C+
  • Sweet: B
  • Lovelace: B-
Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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