Oklahoma-Tulane Video Review: How Oklahoma Addressed a Handful of Concerns

The Sooners started fast on offense, delivered some positives in the run game and after some troubles, had a dominant defensive effort in the fourth quarter.

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

There’s a lot to pick at with Oklahoma’s 34-19 victory over Tulane on Saturday, but overzealous fans and unrealistic observers of OU football need to realize one thing as SEC play has finally arrived:

Things were better.

The OU offense showed improvement against the Green Wave — easily the best of the three defenses they’ve faced this year — in multiple areas.

Quarterback Jackson Arnold threw the football a little more decisively, and ran it a lot more decisively. That’s big moving forward. The run blocking was a little better as the personnel may be settling a little more. Play-calling was certainly better. The potential for getting more injured players back certainly looms large this week.

The Sooners (3-0) were 13 1/2-point favorites and won by 15. 

This week’s line with Tennessee (3-0) opened up Sunday all over the board, with OU favored to win its inaugural SEC game by as many 4 1/2 points by the MGM, but Tennessee favored by 7 1/2 according to Fan Duel and 7 per Draft Kings. Bally has the Vols favored by 3.5.

However the spread shakes out, it’s a huge opportunity for the No. 15-ranked Sooners against No. 6 Tennessee. Vol Nation comes to town with high expectations.

Saturday will be historic.

Here’s a review of the OU-Tulane video:

FIRST QUARTER

Good pressure by Ethan Downs on the first play to hurry the throw to Mario Williams, who drops the ball. Danny Stutsman gets going early as well with a tackle of Makhi Hughes for 1 yard, and Robert Spears-Jennings delivers a little extra thump. Darian Mensah escapes pressure from P.J. Adebawore, but Sammy Omosigho, making his first start, cleans up with a strong solo tackle on Hughes.

OU gets pressure on the punt, but Peyton Bowen starts the possession with a fair catch. Arnold tosses a smooth rollout throw to Gavin Sawchuk for 7 yards, but Sawchuk goes nowhere on second down as the left side, where Logan Howland is making his first start at tackle, of the offensive line gets collapsed. Arnold keeps up the middle for a first down behind Joshua Bates and Jacob Sexton. Sawchuck turns in maybe his best run of the year, a 7-yarder on which he executed a wicked cut, then plows the pile for a first down. Arnold drops back and has a clean pocket, but he drifts into pressure and barely gets off a short throw to Sawchuk. We’ve seen Arnold have problems with this lack of pocket presence several times this season, and he’ll need to get better at it by next week because Tennessee has a relentless defensive front. Arnold delivers a nice throw to Burks over the middle for 10 yards, then hits him on the sideline for 5. Jovantae Barnes’ first carry nets just two yards over the right side. Barnes leaks out of the backfield on third-and-3 and Arnold finds him for a 12-yard pickup and a first down — exactly what fans have been clamoring for, more throws to the running backs. Deion Burks makes an incredible catch in the end zone on a really daring throw by Arnold, but he had stepped out of bounds — no touchdown. Seth Littrell calls a QB draw on second down, with Arnold sliding in behind great blocks by pulling guard Febechi Nwaiwu and tight end Jake Roberts. The pickup of 6 sets up third-and-4, and Arnold finds Burks for a 9-yard gain over the middle to the 1-yard line. Arnold punches it on first down, but it’s only thanks to a high snap from Josh Bates that puts Arnold in a bit of a panic and forces him to decisively leave the backfield. Arnold cashes in only after an impressive stiff-arm and a sprint to the corner.

Da’Jon Terry holds his ground on a  2-yard run by Hughes on first down, but Kani Walker loses leverage on his man-to-man coverage with Dontae Fleming deep down the left sideline — but Mensah overthrows his open target. After a false start, Mensah finds Fleming on a delayed cross over the middle for 12 yards. The play is ruled a first down at first, but review shows he’s short and the OU defense doesn’t bite on the 4th-and-1 bluff. Will Karoll’s punt travels only 28 yards, and it looks like the OU offense is in business again.

Sawchuk gets stuffed again on first down as three blockers get thumped in the backfield, and Arnold’s second down pass to Roberts only picks up 5. On third-and-5, Arnold has a clean pocket at first but pressure comes quickly as Howland gets bullrushed. Arnold kept the play alive as he escapes to the right and throws to Burks, but there’s too much traffic and Luke Elzinga comes on for his first punt — a 42-yarder to the Tulane 10.

Damonic Williams beats his man up front and drops Hughes for a 3-yard gain, but there’s no rush on Mensah on second down as he sets up and delivers a throw to Fleming, who catches a 19-yard first down in front of Jacobe Johnson. Walker nearly makes Mensah pay on the next play, however, as he cuts under a route to Yulkeith Brown and nearly intercepts a throw to the sideline. Had he caught it, Walker might have scored. Stutsman and Kobie McKinzie team up to stuff Hughes for a 1-yard gain, and on third-and-9, Gracen Halton chases Mensah out of bounds for a 1-yard gain, forcing another Tulane punt.

With Heath Ozaeta now at left guard and Sexton replacing Howland at left tackle, Barnes breaks a tackle at the line of scrimmage and gains 6 up the right side. It looks like Barnes is about to break free on another one to the right, but he gets horse-collared down violently by Dickson Agu for a gain of 1. Arnold calmly slips a short pass through traffic to Zion Kearney for a 12-yard gain and third-down conversion, and Barnes turns in his best run of the day, a 14-yard stop-and-start pickup right up the middle. Arnold’s check-down throw is knocked down in the backfield, and on second-and-10, he tries to fit a tight window to Burks and it’s batted down again. On third down, Arnold has a clean pocket and zips a quick out to Burks for a first down pickup.

SECOND QUARTER

Barnes hits another strong run up the middle for 4 yards behind Sexton’s crash block and Nwaiwu’s downfield block, but then he’s thrown down for no gain, putting Arnold in a third-and-6. Another clean pocket, but his check-down to Barnes is dropped. Then, a perplexing moment: the OU field goal unit gets set with six seconds on the play clock, but kicker Tyler Keltner never signals his ready, and by the time holder Josh Plaster gets the snap, the play clock has expired as Keltner’s 50-yard kick sails comfortably through the uprights. In postgame interviews, Venables says, “just blew it.” It’s a costly breakdown: rather than back up Keltner from 55, Elzinga punts it away — and it’s a beauty. The ball checks up inside the 1-yard line and settles at the 4.

Stutsman and Jaren Kanak tackle Arnold Barnes on first down, and the Green Wave is flagged for illegal formation on second down. R Mason Thomas gets just his second QB pressure of the season when he comes around the edge and chases Mensah into an incompletion that’s nearly an intentional grounding call, and on third-and-10, Terry brings down Shaadie Clayton-Johnson down for a 2-yard run to force another punt. It’s yet another impressive stop against a Tulane offense that was prolific and efficient in its first two games.

Really heady play by Bowen to chase down a 78-yard punt and bring it back 24 yards. The ball actually slipped through Bowen’s hands at first, but he gathers and makes three players miss as he heads upfield and out of bounds for a huge field position saver. Arnold finds Bauer Sharp out of the slot on the right side, and Sharp turns it up for a first down. Littrell has begun utilizing more tempo this game, and it shows here as Barnes quickly slams forward for 2 yards. On second-and-8, it’s a repeat play as Sharp lines up on the left side and slips behind the linebackers, where Arnold finds him easily. Sharp makes it exciting, though, as he tries to hurdle a tackler. On second-and-7, Arnold keeps a read option to the left and picks up a 7-yard gain, and Bailey Despanie adds to the Tulane misery as he is flagged for targeting Arnold after Arnold’s slide. It’s an 11-yard penalty to the Tulane 12, and replay confirms the ejection. Taylor Tatum picks up 3 yards on a run up the middle, then watches the play fake to Barnes and slips behind the formation to the right side, where he catches a 9-yard pass from Arnold for his first touchdown catch. Tatum’s celebration is a classic: the two-sport baseball-football star soft-tosses an imaginary ball to himself and takes a home run swing. Keltner’s PAT makes it 14-0.

Good pressure on Mensah by Caiden Woullard to force a quick incompletion. Hughes finds a soft edge to the right, however, for a gain of 6. Mensah then finds Jacobe Johnson and Woodi Washington busting in coverage and drops a 19-yard throw to Fleming. Washington, the nickel, jumped Johnson’s short receiver instead of staying deep in his zone. Stutsman and Terry combine to drop Clayton-Johnson for a 2-yard gain, but Mensah finds Clayton-Johnson swinging out of the backfield for a 10-yard gain. Clayton-Johnson catches a toss sweep to the right and after he cuts inside a swipe by McKinzie, Clayton-Johnson is blasted down by Stutsman. Stutsman drops Barnes with a shoestring tackle short of the first down, but Barnes plows through traffic on the right side for a third-down conversion. Tulane tries a reverse-flea-flicker, but Mensah overthrows tight end Alex Bauman as Washington locks him up in the end zone. Mensah leads Brown too much on second down, and on third-and-10, Mensah isn’t ready for the snap, has to scramble and leads Brown too much down the sideline. After a false start makes it fourth-and-15, Jacob Barnes is wide right on a 50-yard field goal. OU appears to get lucky, however, as defensive lineman David Stone seems to jump over his blocker up front and then literally jump off the back of the long snapper, who’s supposed to be off limits. It’s a safety rule to protect the snapper, but officials don’t see it.

Arnold continues the positive momentum when he reads the Tulane defensive end crashing down on a read-option and keeps the football around the left side for a 47-yard gain. Arnold later says he thought he was going to score “until I wasn’t,” and he wisely steps out of bounds. It’s tied for the longest offensive play of the year and looks like what a dual-threat QB is supposed to be. Arnold’s first-down throw from the 20 falls short to Kearney, but he keeps on a draw up the middle — again following pulling action from Nwaiwu and Roberts — to gain 7 yards. On third-and-3, Taylor slices up the middle and follows more good blocking for a gain of 8, and after Arnold keeps left for 4 more yards, Taylor smashes through the right side behind Nwaiwu, Michael Tarquin and Roberts for an easy touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

Tulane ends the first half by showing signs of life offensively. After a drop on first down, Mensah’s throw to Fleming on second-and-10 picks up 9. Mensah keeps on a QB sneak for 3 yards to keep the drive alive, but his first down throw deep over the middle to Fleming is tipped by Billy Bowman. Mensah steps away from pressure by Woullard and finds Bryce Bohanan uncovered for a 19-yard gain at the 2-minute warning. Hughes picks up 6 before Stutsman drags him down, and on second and 4 Dez Malone is flagged for defensive holding. Hughes gets 4 yards and the sideline on a toss sweep, and Mensah misses Mario Williams to bring up third-and-6. It’s a backbreaker for the OU defense as Makhi Hughes pops through the middle and breaks a tackle by Robert Spears-Jennings before slipping away and picking up 17 yards to the OU 7. Hughes is swarmed by McKinzie and Omosigho for no gain, but backup quarterback Ty Thompson takes the snap, fakes a handoff, throws an odd jump pass and connects with Reggie Brown, who makes a leaping catch over Bowman and lands on his back in the end zone for Tulane’s first score with 19 seconds left. Ethan Head’s extra point, however, is a line drive between two defenders, goes under the crossbar and hits a Ruf/Nek.

THIRD QUARTER

Blocking isn’t good on Barnes’ no gain off right tackle, but Zion Ragins makes a great catch of a high throw and makes an impressive dash upfield, breaking four tackles. On second-and-7, Littrell calls a really nice play with a rollout by Arnold, who dumps a short throw to Sharp coming underneath the formation, but Sharp is taken down with a great tackle by Jack Tchienchou. On third-and-4, Tulane jumps offsides on Arnold’s hard count, giving OU a first down. Arnold throws a nice ball to Burks deep down the left sideline, but Burks can’t quite control the football before coming down out of bounds. Then Arnold overthrows Jaquaize Pettaway in the exact same spot even though Pettaway was open behind the DB. Then Arnold turns in one of his best plays of the day, pulling down a scramble and pump-faking his defender to create just enough space down the right sideline for a 17-yard run. It’s the kind of decisive action that Arnold didn’t display much of in his first two games. Barnes pops one up the middle behind Tarquin for 12 yards, and Burks catches a high throw on an RPO from Arnold and cuts inside twice to pick up 11 yards and another first down. Arnold runs a speed option to Barnes, but Barnes is drilled into the turf for no gain as OU receivers; blocking isn’t very good. Arnold is sacked by Patrick Jenkins on third down as center Josh Bates — who was slightly injured two plays before — just can’t hold up in protection. Keltner bangs through a 29-yard field goal for a 24-6 lead.

More life from the Tulane offense. After gaining just 50 yards and one first down on their first seven drives, the Green Wave has seven first downs and 113 yards on their last two. More coming now as Mario Williams starts it off with a 22-yard reception from Mensah in front of Spears-Jennings. Mensah throws a perfect ball to Brown on the left sideline for a 15-yard gain in front of Bowman. Stutsman and Jayden Jackson stuff Hughes for no gain, but Spears-Jennings is flagged for pass interference on a clearly uncatchable throw to Bauman. It’s a bad call as Jennings was jumping and reaching to try to catch the ball while Bauman ran into him underneath. More good timing by Jon Sumrall for a trick play as a reverse to Fleming catches OU’s defense off guard and leads to a 19-yard run up the right sideline. Mensah’s check down to Barnes is swallows up by Dez Malone for a loss of 2, and Hughes is dragged down by McKinzie for a 1-yard loss. Under pressure, Mensah drops it down to Brown, but Malone nearly intercepts it at the 5-yard line — and might have scored. On fourth-and-goal, Mensah fakes a handoff, bootlegs to his right and dumps off to Hughes, who cuts upfield and squeezes through contact from Walker and Bowman and across the goal line for a touchdown. 

The Sooners’ next drive starts with promise as Arnold keeps for 2 yards on a draw — it’s a little scary to see him slung to the ground so violently — and then finds Burks on a short curl to the left. Burks cuts up twice and runs through contact for a gain of 15. Tatum picks up just 1 and 2 yards on his next two carries as OU’s offensive line seems to be wearing down. The momentum is officially snapped when Arnold gets slammed down again by blitzing linebacker Tyler Grubbs, whose delayed blitz is simply not picked up. Elzinga could use a big boot here but only sends it 39 yards.

The Oklahoma defense needs to come up big here, but Spears-Jennings gets trucked on a gain of 7 by Hughes. Hughes run through contact from Terry for a gain of 2, and on third-and-1, Brown runs a wide receiver counter and sprints forward for a gain of 6. Terry is banged up for Oklahoma with 27 seconds on the clock, and eventually is helped up and limps off the field with an apparent left leg injury. Mensah’s deep ball to Mario Williams down the left sideline isn’t tightly covered, but the ball is thrown too far. Ethan Downs — a standup outside linebacker in a 3-4 alignment — ends the quarter right by bumping Barnes out of bounds for a loss of 2.

FOURTH QUARTER

Oklahoma gets the stop it needs when Mensah can’t connect on a deep ball to Williams down the left sideline. OU blitzed Trace Ford and Spears-Jennings in the A-gap, but both are picked up. Still, Malone has Williams well-covered downfield and is nearly able to make a play on the ball. 

Instead of turning their first good defensive stop since the early second quarter into a positive, bad things are just ahead for the OU offense. Arnold finds Burks across the middle for 3 yards, but Tarquin is flagged for not being on the line of scrimmage. On first-and-15, linebacker Dickson Agu comes free on a blitz but can’t wrap up Arnold. Arnold panics and tries to zip a quick throw over the middle to Burks, but Tyler Grubbs easily steps in front of the throw and returns it 22 yards for a touchdown, silencing what’s left of more than 80,000 OU fans. It’s 24-19 with 14:20 to play, and Tulane is on the verge of shocking the world. Mensah is sacked by Downs on the 2-point conversion play and fumbles, and Stutsman picks it up and nearly gets down the sideline with it.

Sam Franklin returns the kickoff 21 yards and nearly squirts through for more. Sawchuk gets 4 on first down, but Arnold is sacked by Angelo Anderson for a loss of 8 as Barnes can’t pick up the twist. Tulane is offsides on third-and-14, but Arnold steps up in the pocket and fires the football into coverage trying to get it to Kearney. On third-and-9, Arnold escapes pressure from the left side, scrambles and throws the football away. 

This is where Oklahoma’s defense shines. With just a one-possession lead and no discernible momentum, OU forces a quick three-and-out: an incomplete pass (Danny Stutsman got pressure, making Mensah under throw it), a 3-yard run (Stutsman makes a solo stop on Hughes) and another incompletion (Omosigho pressures Mensah on a jailbreak blitz up the middle), bringing on the punt team.

Tulane still has the momentum as the Green Wave force a Sooner three-and-out. Barnes gets 3 physical yards off the left side, Arnold’s naked bootleg throw to Sharp goes for no gain on a great tackle by Kevin Adams, and after Nwaiwu false starts, Arnold throws to Burks across the middle for what should be an easy first down completion, but Burks drops the football. Elzinga’s 49-yard punt and an illegal block flip the field for OU.

Hughes quickly busts one off the right side for 10 yards, but Hughes goes for 3 (Damonic Williams drags him down with one hand) and 6 (Kip Lewis and Jayden Jackson hang on to hold him short of the first down) on the next two handoffs up the middle. On third-and-1, Mensah’s throw over the middle to Fleming is deflected by Kani Walker and Kobie McKinzie and intercepted by Billy Bowman. It’s good pressure up front by Trace Ford, and the tight formation puts 10 defenders near the line of scrimmage and allows for the takeaway.

OU takes over with 8:18 remaining. First down is a quick hitch screen to Burks, who had come in motion behind the formation, then catches the ball and bursts past his blocking for a gain of 20 yards. Sawchuk is stuffed again for just 1 yard. Time for a trick play: Arnold flips to Tatum, who spins and throws back to Arnold, but Arnold is covered immediately by Johnathan Edwards and corralled for a loss of 2. On third-and-11, Arnold drops back to pass, sees an opening and sprints away from pressure. Arnold cuts left, then right, then right again as he breaks tackles at the 25, the 6 and the 2 and dives into the end zone, giving Oklahoma a 31-19 lead with 6:05 to play. It gives Arnold 100 net rushing yards on the day and all but ices the victory. The interception and the third-down TD run might be Oklahoma’s best example this season of complementary football.

Zach Schmit’s kickoff inexplicably goes out of bounds, giving Tulane possession at the 15. But it doesn’t matter — it’s R Mason Thomas time. The Sooners’ junior defensive end starts the next drive by sacking Mensah with authority on first down, coming hard off the left side. After Hughes runs for 2, Thomas bats down Mensah’s third-down throw from the right side, then stays on the right side, cuts in and and sacks Mensah for a loss of 5 on fourth-and-13.

OU takes over at the Tulane 27 with 4:34 to play. Tatum runs it up the middle for a gain of 4, then squirts through for 4 more. Arnold pulls a read option to the left, but instead of jumping into the hole and probably picking up the first down, he breaks it outside and gets tackled for a loss of 3 (and now sits at 97 net rushing yards). But after a Tulane timeout, Keltner’s 39-yard field goal is true and pushes OU to a 34-19 lead with 2:55 to play.

Somehow, Thomas isn’t done ruining Mensah’s day. Mario Williams slips down for a loss of 2 on a short throw, and Mensah finds Brown and Williams for back-to-back gains of 16. P.J. Adebawore shows his elite first step and gets good pressure on Mensah, forcing a holding penalty on Reggie Brown. Mensah scrambles away from pressure by Thomas for a gain of 6, but then Thomas comes around the left edge and dislodges the football. Thomas chases down the loose ball, scoops it up and nearly scores as his teammates salute him on the sideline.

OU goes with a big formation (Kaden Helms is the third tight end) as Tatum gets the first handoff and pushes for 4 yards before Tulane’s final timeout at 1:32. Tatum slams into the middle for no gain, and after a delay of game penalty, Arnold drops back and lays down for a loss of 9 yards as the clock expires on fourth-and-20.