Oklahoma has been held under 100 rushing yards in each of its past two games. Baylor kept redshirt junior running back Kennedy Brooks to just 55 rushing yards on 14 carries and the Sooners to 82 rushing yards as a team.
Against Texas Tech, Oklahoma rushed for only 72 yards. Part of that was true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams passing for over 400 yards and six touchdowns.
Still, it’s an alarming trend that Oklahoma needs fixed asap. On the season, Brooks only has a pair of 100-plus rushing yards games. He racked up 217 rushing yards with a pair of touchdowns against Texas on 25 carries and then followed that performance up the next week against TCU with 153 yards on 20 handoffs.
Since then, it’s been difficult for Oklahoma to find much in the way of running lanes.
Brooks remained upbeat earlier this week about the Sooners’ ability to establish the running game moving forward.
“Man, I’ve got more than just faith. They’ve done it before. They can do it again. I mean, we’re all not playing our best football, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to just keep playing bad. We’re grinding. We’re going to keep working things out and we’re going to be good. I have faith in this whole team. I got faith in everybody. I’m still confident this team can do what we can and will do what we want to do at the end of the day. I’m very confident,” Brooks said.
Iowa State brings the nation’s No. 18 rushing defense to town on Saturday, so it doesn’t figure to get any easier at least on paper. Brooks and the Sooners know what type of battle they’re in for.
“They’re a strong defense. They’re a great team. They’ve always got great run fits. It’s going to be a battle up front, man. Whoever runs the ball this game is going to win the game. That’s what it always comes down to at the end of it every time I’ve played them. It’s going to be a very physical game, but we can do it. It’s something that we’ve done before and we can do it again,” Brooks said.
Oklahoma’s starting left guard Marquis Hayes understands that it starts with his group performing better.
“It’s definitely something we can get fixed. I feel like Baylor had a good scheme versus us, but it’s about us being more physical in the run. We’ve got to establish the run up front. Obviously, for the running backs to hit the gaps that they need to, we have to be more physical to open up the gap. Basically, we established this game to come in and be more physical and set the tone,” Hayes said.
Hayes and the rest of Oklahoma’s offensive line have reemphasized the need to win that battle of physicality up front this week versus the Cyclones. That starts with how they’ve approached practice.
“It manifests by saying…basically, practice. If you come in and attack practice with being physical. Coach B definitely said for us to be better as an offensive line we have to establish the run game and that’s being physical. It’s definitely a mentality. We attacked it this week. We’re establishing the run and being more physical and dominant, so it’s going to show Saturday,” Hayes said.
Oklahoma currently ranks No. 60 in rushing offense, averaging 171.8 rushing yards per game. The Cyclones have been especially stingy against the run, though Iowa State did surrender 207 rushing yards to Texas Tech last week.
Brooks and Oklahoma are remaining optimistic that the Sooners can find their physicality and establish the run game like they’re accustomed to in their final few games.
“Great teams have done it. Other teams that won championships, Super Bowls. There’s always something to work for. It’s not going to be perfect all the time. We’ve just got to keep working toward it,” Brooks said.
Oklahoma kicks off against Iowa State at 11 a.m. on FOX in the Sooners’ second consecutive Big Noon Kickoff.
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