Oklahoma Did a Lot Right against Temple, But There's Still Plenty of Room for Growth

The Sooners routed the Owls in Friday night's season opener, but third-down efficiency, short-yardage rushing and even pass protection needs to be better moving forward.

Oklahoma Sooners defensive back Robert Spears-Jennings (3) celebrates with Jacobe Johnson (19) / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

NORMAN – It’s easy to get carried away with the way Oklahoma played on Friday night.

The good parts, not the bad.

Jackson Arnold was economical, Deion Burks was reliable, Bauer Sharp was sneaky, Jovantae Barnes was quick, Tyler Keltner was accurate and the Sooner defense was as good as advertised, collecting four takeaways in the first half alone and finishing with six.

OU routed Temple to start the program’s 130th season of college football – and its first in the Southeastern Conference – in a 51-3 wipeout.

Sooner Nation did their part, with 83,329 turning out on a sultry, sticky evening. They cheered the pregame flyover and they roared when Keltner banged a 50-yard field goal, and they sang with zeal during the Toby Keith salute to start the fourth quarter.

And they stayed engaged and got appropriately throaty whenever the Sooners made a play – and the Sooners made a lot of plays.

It was 17-0 in the first quarter and 17-0 in the second quarter as OU simply overmatched their opening night opponent and spent much of the second half getting reps to the backups. The fourth quarter was much the same as OU tacked on a special teams/defensive touchdown and another TD from its fabulous freshman tailback.

But the No. 16-ranked team in the country did have a few bugaboos that surfaced – resurfaced, in some cases – that could be interpreted as red flags.

"Got a lot to clean up," coach Brent Venables said. "Plenty we could do better in all three phases.

"We're not beating our chest."

It's been said the defense will carry this team, and that definitely came about this time. The offense managed just 378 yards, including just 161 passing, the Sooners' lowest aerial total since the 2022 Texas game (the Davis Beville game).

In the opening half, against a Temple defense that brought back just four starters from a 3-9 squad last year that gave up 40 or more points five straight weeks, Oklahoma didn’t convert one third down. Not one. The Sooners were 0-for-7 at halftime on third down plays, started 0-for-11 overall and finally got one on their final drive to finish 0 for 12.

Two of those third downs became fourth-and-1 conversions by Gavin Sawchuk, a 2-yard run and a 5-yard run. The first one eventually became a touchdown pass from Arnold to Sharp, and the second one turned into a 42-yard field goal by Tyler Keltner.

So, the Sooners did a nice job overcoming an adverse situation.

A big part of the third-down maladies could be attributed to a lack of execution on first and second down. Arnold was 0-for-4 on third-down throws in the first half, but he faced third-and-12, third-and-9, third-and-6 and third-and-8.

But it wasn’t just third downs where the OU offense struggled.

OU averaged just 4.1 yards per carry in the run game in the first two quarters, just 87 yards on 21 carries. Seven of those carries were by Arnold, and 10 were split between starting the running backs, Barnes and Sawchuk. Freshman Taylor Tatum had a nice 4-yard pop through traffic, and Burks ran it three times on reverses.

New offensive coordinator Seth Littrell had a great start and called a good game, but it didn’t look like OU was committed to running the football at any point.

Tatum did pop a 19-yard run on a fourth-quarter drive, then busted loose on a 35-yarder before finishing off the drive with an 8-yard TD. He finished the night with a team high 44 yards on four carries.

Last year, the offense struggled at times to have productive short-yardage runs. In 1- and 2-to-go situations in 2023, the Sooner offensive line often found itself getting pushed back, and that was with an o-line that featured three current NFL players.

That happened again in short-yardage situations against Temple, with eight OU running plays going for 0, 2, 0, 0, 2, -1, -1 and 0 yards. Those also frequently led to third-and-long situations.

A lot of that, of course, is partially the product of five new starters across the offensive line, and should improve over the course of the season – although SEC play is now three weeks away. Count, too, the fact that Friday’s starting five literally got one offensive series together.

But the Owls also got three sacks on Arnold. That’s three too many, and another red flag for a rebuilt offensive line that came into the season as the team’s biggest question mark.

Things up front certainly didn’t get resolved on Friday.

Starting center and SMU transfer Branson Hickman went down on the second series with what looked like a right foot or ankle injury. That necessitated bringing in Washington transfer Geirean Hatchett, who wasn’t actually on the two-deep released earlier this week. Starting right tackle Michael Tarquin moved to left tackle, starting left tackle Jacob Sexton moved to left guard, and Michigan State transfer Spencer Brown came in at right tackle.

Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh no doubt had guys playing all over the place in training camp and was ready to adjust on the fly. But all the pregame movement to go with the injury substitutions don’t help Bedenbaugh’s efforts to forge chemistry.

Here’s the thing.

Oklahoma unveiled 53 newcomers in their opener. A lot of what didn’t necessarily go right could be attributed to that newness and unfamiliarity. OU fans were in their element, but a lot of Sooners were simply playing their first game on Owen Field.

There will be nerves.

And hey, it’s Week 1. Perfection is impossible any time, but mistakes should be part of every team’s equation on opening week.

Ultimately, Venables and his coaching staff will turn on the video and have lots to show the players where they can be better – and need to be with an SEC gauntlet coming up that includes potential monsters like Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU.

"Every week, things are gonna get a little more challenging," Venables said.