Oklahoma-Tulane Review: PFF Grades, Redshirt Report and More

Looking back at the game and diving into Pro Football Focus' grades and snap-count totals from the Sooners' win against Tulane on Saturday.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

By the end of the nonconference schedule, the main thing a team can ask for are wins and improvement. And things are at least looking better for 3-0 Oklahoma. 

The Sooners got past Tulane 34-19 after separating the margin late in the game Saturday in Norman. This came a week after the Sooners struggled with a Houston team still looking for its first win after three weeks of the season. 

The Green Wave, though, was the best squad the Sooners have faced in 2024, at least for a week. Now, OU will go into SEC play for the first time with a rolling Tennessee coming to town and bring ESPN College GameDay to Norman with it. 

“Proud of our guys to find a way to improve and get better this week,” OU coach Brent Venables said postgame. “Really thankful, again, for the fight, the strain, the toughness to go into a week where there’s a lot of questions and concern, if you will. I thought they did a great job of managing the week and focusing on what they need to do to improve, get better, take another step forward.” 

Here’s a look at some OU’s numbers – Pro Football Focus grades, snap counts and more – after the Sooners’ Week 2 win over Tulane. 

Pro Football Focus

Despite what Venables said and the almighty eye test by those of us in the stands or at home, this was actually OU’s worst performance of the season, at least according to Pro Football Focus’ grading. Overall, PFF graded the Sooners at a 69.2 – a season low. That grade has actually gotten worse each week, so the thought of OU improving week-by-week isn’t supported by PFF. OU earned an 84.4 after Week 1 and a 74.3 last week. 

The most consistent grade drop has come from the offense, which received a season-low 56.7. The offense hasn’t been graded like a scholar by no means, but the more concerning part is the grade has gotten worse instead of the other direction before the schedule gets a lot tougher. Week 1 it was an exceptional 84.4 before it dropped to 74.3 in a week Venables said his team deserved to lose, mainly because of its offensive woes. But now when Venables raves about improvement, and I honestly agreed, PFF grades obviously use a different grading system than the head coach. 

However, especially from a casual fan, the most impactful decision maker in forming an opinion on how well an offense performed stems from the actual decision maker. And it seems like everyone and every metric agreed that sophomore Jackson Arnold was better against Tulane. PFF graded Arnold at a 74.1, a career best and the best for the Sooners offensively after Week 3. Arnold got a big boost from his running ability, though, getting a 77.9 as a runner compared to a 61.9 as a passer. That passing grade was actually the worst grade Arnold has earned. Through three weeks, Arnold has the second-best grade on the offense at 76.7 behind only receiver Jalil Farooq, who will miss 6-8 weeks with an injury and has played only seven snaps, according to PFF. 

Defensively, the Sooners weren’t at the same level as Week 1 when they forced six turnovers, but they did improve compared to last week, according to PFF, getting graded at 78.2 compared to 74.7 a week ago. 

Defensive end R Mason Thomas was spectacular and basically single handedly stole the fourth quarter from Tulane, and his PFF graded reflected that with a team-best 91.3 after playing 50 snaps. 

Defensive back Billy Bowman played the most defensive snaps with 68, according to PFF, and received a grade of 64.2. 

Outside of Arnold, offensive linemen Joshua Bates and Febechi Nwaiwu are the only players to be out there all 78 offensive snaps. More snaps doesn’t necessarily mean better grades, though, as Bates received a team-worst 43.7 and Nwaiwu was graded at a 52.7. 

Spencer Brown, in only five snaps, got the best grade on the offensive line at 60.4. Jacob Sexton was next at 56.1. 

Redshirt Report

With three weeks down, redshirt plans will soon be revealed. Players are allowed to play in four games, not counting postseason, to maintain a redshirt. After three games, OU has six freshmen that have one game left to spare. 

Those freshmen on the cusp of losing their redshirt include Jayden Jackson, David Stone, Jaydan Hardy, Michael Boganowski, Eugene Brooks and Taylor Tatum. 

Of those six, Jackson, who has been starting on the defensive line, played the snaps Saturday at 31, according to PFF. He also earned the best grade defensively at 62.1. 

Offensively, Tatum took the spotlight at running back after getting into the end zone twice. He had the best grade among all freshmen at 63.9, which was also the third-highest overall on offense. He played 27 snaps, compared to other running backs Jovantae Barnes at 39 and Gavin Sawchuk at 21, according to PFF. It was a season-high snap count for Tatum after only six last week.