All Sooners

Why Oklahoma's Offensive Line Lacked Consistency In Win Over SMU

Sack of Gabriel forces change at guard, with transfer Everett playing much of the game against the Mustangs

Tim Willert

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NORMAN — A week after pushing around Arkansas State, Oklahoma's offensive line took a step back against SMU on Saturday.

A sack of quarterback Dillon Gabriel on the Sooners' third possession of the game cost the offense nine yards and starting guard Savion Byrd significant playing time against the Mustangs.

Later in the game, with the outcome still in doubt, the offensive line committed a pair of red zone penalties on the same drive, including one by right tackle Tyler Guyton that nullified a touchdown.

The Sooners won 28-11, but rushed for fewer yards (189) and averaged fewer yards per carry (4.0) against SMU than Arkansas State (220) and (4.5), in a 73-0 rout. 

"Obviously it wasn't our best game," guard McKade Mettauer said Monday night after practice. "We didn't rush for five yards per carry, which is our goal. We need to be better cleaning up penalties. Really change our mentality. We had good effort on Saturday. But that’s not good enough for us to play the way that we need to play."

Poor technique that may have worked against Arkansas State was exposed by the SMU defense, according to Mettauer.

"I think with the game we had against Arkansas State, we really moved the ball, obviously," he said. "And we got away with a lot of bad technique with basically playing hard.

"We played hard and we were finishing. Pancaking guys. But it showed up with the better talent SMU had. We need to dominate even against guys like that."

Troy Everett, a sophomore transfer from Appalachian State who backs up Andrew Raym at center, replaced Byrd at guard against SMU following the sack of Gabriel and logged 47 snaps to Byrd's 30 snaps.

The previous week, the 6-foot-3, 294-pound Everett played the majority of his 38 snaps at center.

"It's been fun, just learning both positions," he said Monday. "So I was grateful I got the opportunity to go in there. It was great. 

"All the guys on the sideline were real supportive, keeping me up, keeping me supportive. The whole group. That was the biggest thing on Saturday, is that we all kept each other up."

Everett said he's "definitely got a lot to work on" and it will take time to get comfortable playing two positions.

"It’s still early for me, so we’ll see how it goes," he said. "I think as the game progressed, it got better for me."

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said the offensive line played hard but was sloppy.

"When you put the game on, our guys played incredibly hard, and they tried to be incredibly physical," Lebby said. "We did not play very clean. We couldn’t get out of our way at times. That wasn’t just up front. That was really spread out through the entire unit. Guys, you put the tape on, and guys were playing incredibly hard and incredibly tough. But we didn’t execute cleanly.

"Coach V (head coach Brent Venables) talks about it all the time, right? But it’s effort with technique. It’s playing incredibly hard and incredibly physical. But having great technique and fundamentals inside of what you’re doing on every snap. And that’ll give us a chance to have the success we want to have. All of us gotta play cleaner, I am proud of the way we tried to play. We just did not play very clean.”

Mettauer said Saturday's performance served as a wake-up call for the offensive line.

"Coach B (offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh) harps on it all the time," Mettauer said. "He says eventually you can get exposed. If you’re playing guys who are below your talent level, you’re not going to be exposed on bad technique. You can use your strength to overcome that. But when you play guys who are a little better, maybe not even the best that you’re going to see, it’s going to expose you.”

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Tim Willert
TIM WILLERT

AllSooners staff writer Tim Willert has covered news and sports for 29 years as a reporter and editor for daily and online publications, including The Oklahoman and The Norman Transcript. 

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