Oklahoma-Florida State: One Big Thing
Ahead of Oklahoma’s season finale, OU’s most consistent unit on the field is suddenly riddled with question marks.
A pair of opt outs and a season-ending surgery mean the Sooner offensive line will face off against the No. 13-ranked Florida State Seminoles with a trio of backups.
Both starting tackles — Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris — are skipping the Cheez-It Bowl to get a head start on NFL Draft prep.
Harrison and Morris have arguably been the offense’s best players supporting running back Eric Gray (who is also absent from the festivities in Orlando).
At the heart of the line, Oklahoma will also be without center Andrew Raym who was shut down after Bedlam to undergo surgery to get a jump on winter workouts and spring football.
Thankfully for offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, two of the three replacements aren’t total unknowns for the Sooners.
Veteran Robert Congel will replace Raym, just as he did in OU’s final two regular season games against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.
Thursday’s contest with FSU will mark career start No. 22 for Congel, with nine of those coming over the past two years at Oklahoma after transferring in from Arizona.
At right tackle, Tyler Guyton is expected to make his fifth start of the year in reserve of Morris.
The TCU transfer stands an impressive 6-foot-7, also weighing in at 320 pounds.
Oklahoma is excited about Guyton’s future, as he tests off the charts in a combine setting, and he’s had strong moments throughout the 2022 season.
But a true freshman is in line to start across from Guyton at left tackle.
Oklahoma high school product Jacob Sexton is in line fill the hole left by Harrison, as he’s listed as the backup at left tackle.
Sexton has played sparingly this season, and he’ll have a formidable welcome party to big-time college football in the form of a talented Florida State defensive line.
Venables was well aware of the uphill battle OU will be fighting in the trenches, but was optimistic that the extra bowl practices would help get the new pieces up to speed.
“The young offensive linemen, along with Tyler Guyton, we’ll have a good group of guys at tackle that will do a good job and looking for opportunity,” Venables said during his initial Cheez-It Bowl press conference on Dec. 4. “They’ll have almost a spring ball’s worth of practices, give or take, to refine their skills and get ready for this game and have a great challenge.
“They’re going to get baptized quickly because Jared Verse is one of the premier defensive end pass rushers in all of college football. They’re going to have length and speed and experience everywhere on both sides of the ball.”
And Venables is right. Verse is the face of a potent Seminole pass rush as he’s hunted down opposing quarterbacks for 7.5 sacks this year and totaled 41 tackles.
Add in Patrick Payton’s four sacks and 3.5 sacks from defensive end Derrick McLendon II and it’s easy to see why Florida State it tied for 20th in the country with 2.83 sacks per game.
Deploying Congel and Guyton in Lubbock, OU allowed three sacks to a Texas Tech defense playing without star pass rusher Tyree Wilson.
In Orlando, Oklahoma will have to slow down a better Florida State defensive line playing at full strength.
But regardless of who gobbles up the snaps in the trenches, Lebby’s expectation is the offensive line will still perform at a high level.
“The biggest thing is we have guys that are capable,” Lebby said during his press conference in Orlando on Monday. “They have not played a bunch, but they are capable. We feel great about where we are at.
“[I] have a ton of confidence in the guys that are going to walk out there first on the 29th, guys that are going to go play and play their butt off and do everything they can to go fight for a win.”
Even without Gray, one way the OU offense can attempt and mitigate the pressure is through the running game.
Florida State allows 148.3 yards per game on the ground, putting the Seminole defense in the middle of the pack nationally as the 62nd-best team defending the run.
True freshman running back Jovantae Barnes is unproven as a feature back, but he flashed plenty of potential this season for the Sooners.
Barnes’ best showing came in Oklahoma’s 55-24 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs.
He was handed the ball 18 times, and he bowled his way through the TCU defense for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Though the Sooners trailed, Barnes carried the load for much of the fourth quarter after Gray was withdrawn.
But Barnes’ momentum was derailed a few short weeks after his coming out party in Fort Worth.
He was limited by the Texas defense in the Red River Shootout, and ran for 69 yards and two more scores on 21 carries against Kansas before missing the trip to Ames with a hamstring injury.
Down the home stretch of the regular season, Barnes got a combined 17 carries against West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, meaning he should have plenty left in the tank for the Cheez-It Bowl.
Behind Barnes, Oklahoma’s backfield is filled with unknowns.
Tawee Walker has just 18 carries for 62 yards on the year, and true freshman Gavin Sawchuk has only played three snaps all year.
If the offensive line can give OU’s young backfield a little bit of daylight, the Sooners may be able to keep Florida State at bay with a balanced attack.
Because even though there are plenty of new faces up front, the game plan won’t change much for the Oklahoma offense.
“I think it is also a big opportunity for new guys and what they are going to be able to showcase in what they do,” OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel said. “We truly have a next-man-up mentality, so just being ready for that and letting them seize the opportunity.”
For Oklahoma, the game will likely have to be won off the left arm of Gabriel.
But the contest could certainly be lost in the trenches if the Sooners’ patchwork offensive line can’t give Gabriel enough time to find receivers downfield in Orlando.
Oklahoma will find out if the offensive line can answer the challenge on Thursday, as kickoff between the Sooners and the Seminoles is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
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