The Oklahoma Sooners are 5-5 overall in 2024 and just 1-5 in Southeastern Conference play. Year 3 under head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and Year 1 in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] hasn’t gone as expected, and OU now teeters on the brink of missing a bowl game for the first time since 1998.
The Sooners have lost four of their last five games after a 4-1 start, with the only win coming against FCS Maine. Oklahoma must win one of their final two regular season games in order to extend a 25-year bowl eligibility streak.
Venables’ team hasn’t won a conference game since before the first bye week of the season, and now coming off of the second bye week, the task at hand doesn’t get any easier. The Alabama Crimson Tide roll into Norman, looking to make another statement to the College Football Playoff committee and hope to stay on track to reach the SEC Championship Game.
They are led by head coach Kalen DeBoer, wrapping up his first season in Tuscaloosa after being hired to replace Nick Saban after the legendary coach retired following the 2023 season.
It’s a tall order for Oklahoma this week, but this is college football. Just when you think you know how things are going to go, they change in an instant. That’s what the Sooners are hoping for this week.
Here are three keys to the game between the Sooners and the Crimson Tide.
1. Run The Dang Ball
Interim co-offensive coordinators [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag] and [autotag]Kevin Johns[/autotag] showed some promising things against Ole Miss, Maine, and Missouri after Seth Littrell was relieved of his duties after the South Carolina loss. But it all came crashing down against Missouri.
The one thing the Sooners were able to do well in that game was run the ball, but Finley seemed reluctant to keep calling run plays and concepts that had worked earlier in the game. Instead, Oklahoma took to the air, which didn’t work at all behind a shaky offensive line and an overwhelmed quarterback.
If [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] is back this week, that bodes well for OU. Getting [autotag]Taylor Tatum[/autotag] and [autotag]Xavier Robinson[/autotag] heavily involved in the game is a must, even if Barnes is active. The Crimson Tide are good and explosive offensively, so the Sooners must counteract that with a steady diet of the run game.