Tag: savion byrd

Time for a bounce back: Some Sooners on offense to keep an eye on vs. Tulsa

After a poor showing on offense against SMU, we’ll be looking at these Sooners to have better games or get more playing time.

Oklahoma’s performance on offense against SMU was head-scratching. The playcalling felt disjointed, especially after the first quarter. Poor blocking was the main culprit, but it also felt very conservative.

Whether that was by design, it needs to be better.

The entire offense needs to be better. The blocking took a step back after dominating Arkansas State. The running backs weren’t particularly explosive or impactful until later in the game. The receivers were essentially a non-factor outside of [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag] and a late fourth-quarter touchdown catch from [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag].

This Saturday will give Oklahoma one more tune-up before they embark on a journey to start their Big 12 schedule. After this week’s matchup with Tulsa, the Sooners will go on the road again to face Cincinnati. The Sooners will want to feel better about their offensive performance before making the trip in week 4.

With a unit that struggled against SMU, there are a number of candidates in need of bounce-back performances. Here are the three players we’ll be watching closely on Saturday.

Up Next: 3 Sooners to Watch on Offense

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Can Oklahoma Sooners running game find more success vs. Tulsa?

The running game for the Oklahoma Sooners was thought to be a positive heading into the season but so far hasn’t lived up to the hype.

After a great opening week performance by the Oklahoma Sooners’ offensive line, they put together a poor follow-up one this past Saturday. This offensive line could be one of the better units we’ve seen in recent memory.

The Sooners’ pass protection was pretty good, allowing only one sack and few hurries, but the run game didn’t hold up to their standard. The Sooners averaged only four yards per carry and were tackled for a loss three times.

McKade Mettauer told reporters that performance wasn’t acceptable.

“It wasn’t our best game,” Mettauer said. “We didn’t rush for five yards per carry which is our goal. We need to be better with penalties. Really changed 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, especially with stuff like the running game, where we need to dominate. So, I think clean up penalties and change our mentality, knowing we need to have a really good effort like we have, but we need to clean up our technique.”

With five yards per carry being the goal, the Sooners have actually yet to hit that mark. In Week 1, the Sooners averaged 4.5 yards per carry which was probably the only negative from the week one win over Arkansas State.

If five yards per carry is the standard, then the Oklahoma Sooners aren’t meeting their own expectations to start 2023. For Oklahoma to have success this season, the offensive line will need to find more consistency on the ground.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Oklahoma Sooners offensive line looks to get back on track in Week 3 vs. Tulsa

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive line looks to get back on track after underperforming Week 2.

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off a bizarre offensive performance against the SMU Mustangs. Many thought the Sooners would dominate but that just wasn’t the case.

The most bizarre thing was how the offensive line seemed to get barely any push and rarely created holes. This is an offensive line that has been touted as one of the better ones Oklahoma has had in the last few years, which is saying something.

Offensive tackle Walter Rouse spoke with reporters after practice on Tuesday and said they have to be better going forward.

“Obviously, it’s always good to get a win. But when I say this, I mean the utmost respect for SMU with the type of program that I believe we can be and the type of program all of the coaches know we can be is that I think we could have done a lot better,” Rouse said. “I feel like we should have put that game away a lot earlier.”

Rouse went on to say he felt the effort and want to was there, but the technique needs improvement. The Sooners will take on a Tulsa team that generated a lot of pressure in their first game but didn’t last week against the Washington Huskies.

That is to be expected as Washington’s quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was only hit 16 times a season ago. The Sooners are going to need to duplicate that performance this week.

“Tulsa is going to come out and give us everything they have,” Rouse said. “(They will) show us things we’ve never seen before. We have to respect them, respect their defensive line and come out with good technique.”

The Sooners offensive line will get that opportunity for redemption this Saturday on their first road trip of the season. There’s little doubt the offensive line will play well. Because if there’s one position group that deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s the offensive line led by [autotag]Bill Bedenbaugh[/autotag].

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Report Card: Defense flies high, offense stuck in a rut in 28-11 win over SMU

In our report card for Oklahoma’s performance against SMU, the defense leads the way with the highest marks.

The offense didn’t put its best foot forward in the Sooners 28-11 win over SMU. However, the defense kept Oklahoma in control until the Sooners were able to put together a couple of late scoring drives to seal the win.

Oklahoma knows it will have to play better as the season wears on. They’ll need to improve in all three phases to be in the mix for a Big 12 title berth in November. But for this game, it was enough.

Instead of a shootout, we got a game where neither team even scratched 40 points.

Here’s how each position group graded out in the 28-11 win over SMU.

Oklahoma Sooners offensive line looking to regain dominant form

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive line is looking to build off a strong Week 1.

It was just one game with this current offensive line unit, but it was impressive. [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Andrew Raym[/autotag], [autotag]Savion Byrd[/autotag] and [autotag]Walter Rouse[/autotag] put on a dominant display up front.

They played mean and physical, and while the offensive lines have been good almost every year under Bill Bedenbaugh, they looked like the 2017 and 2018 offensive lines.

That doesn’t mean they are going to be that dominant or win the Joe Moore Award, but the aggression and physicality they played with were very reminiscent.

Andrew Raym told reporters, that the work isn’t done. They have to build off of that performance.

The big focus is details,” Raym said. “I saw an o-line that was finishing. They were trying to get after people’s butts. We have a group of guys who just want to dominate this year. We just got to keep working on the small things, the details and all of that.”

It’s felt like that “dominate” mentality just hasn’t been there in the past few years. But if Saturday is any indicator, it’s back.

The Sooners were dominant in both the run and pass game, accumulating more than 640 yards of total offense. There also weren’t as many penalties as we’ve seen in years past. Especially the sloppy and untimely penalties that plagued this team a year ago.

Again it’s just Week 1, so this offensive line still has a ways to go, but it was a great start to the season.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

Trio of Sooners we’ll be watching on offense vs. SMU

When Oklahoma takes on SMU, here are three offensive players that we’ll have our eye on come Saturday evening.

Entering the season, much of the news swirling around the program concerned changes the team needed to make on the defensive side of the ball. And while it was very much warranted, the offense needed to show improvement despite losing six starters from last season’s squad.

Saturday against Arkansas State quieted some doubters about their ability to reload, but bigger and better challenges await this unit.

They’ll take a step up in talent when they take on SMU Saturday evening in Norman.

SMU isn’t filled with guys that will be top 150 picks in the 2024 NFL draft, but they are a much more talented defense than the one Oklahoma saw against the Red Wolves.

If the quarterback play is as good as it was in the first game, it won’t matter who lines up across them, but it’s tough to expect your quarterback to complete 80 percent or more of his passes every game.

With that said, there are three players we’ll be watching on offense, and how they play could go a long way in giving Oklahoma a decided advantage come Saturday night.

Up Next: Three Sooners to watch vs. SMU

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Offense leads the way: 3 Stars from Oklahoma Sooners win vs. Arkansas State

Oklahoma’s performance on Saturday was excellent. The offense shined the brightest and leads the way in this week’s three stars of the game.

Oklahoma’s 73-0 win was an excellent step in the right direction for this team on the heels of last season. The biggest hurdle the team needed to clear to be better than last year was to be better on defense.

It’s hard to read exactly what that looks like, but not allowing a point to Arkansas State is an excellent step in the right direction.

Saturday’s performance should provide optimism about the defense to a degree. Still, a much more potent test awaits them this week as they turn their attention to SMU. They have better talent at every single position group on offense than Arkansas State offers.

Despite not being the root of their issues a year ago, Oklahoma’s offense still had room for improvement. Against the Red Wolves, the Sooners saw encouraging things to believe that their work in the offseason should net better results this season.

In our first look at the three stars from Oklahoma’s dominating opening week win, offense leads the way.

Up Next: 3 Stars of the Game

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Report Card: Sooners breeze through Arkansas State with big-time performances

The Oklahoma Sooners were fantastic in their win over Arkansas State, but how did they grade in this week’s Report Card?

Saturday allowed us to see team 129 in Oklahoma’s illustrious football history for the first time this season. This team entered the day with cautious optimism, but a cloud of last season’s disappointment still hungover over the program. Year two of Brent Venables’s tenure needed to start off with a bang, and his team did just that as they dismantled the Arkansas State Red Wolves 73-0.

The Sooners are on another level regarding raw talent than the Arkansas State Red Wolves. That is abundantly clear, but Oklahoma had to show it could dominate an inferior opponent. They also needed to showcase the improvements in recruiting and among their returning players.

Saturday was a fun, stress-free showcase of domination. Now that the first game is behind us, it’s time to dive deeper and hand out our first grades of the year in this week’s report card.

Three Oklahoma Sooners to watch on offense against Arkansas State

Taking a look at three Oklahoma Sooners to watch on offense vs. Arkansas State.

Saturday will mark the start of year two for Jeff Lebby as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator. While the Sooners posted some solid numbers last year, it always felt like they could’ve done more. That sentiment is something players and coaches alike have echoed throughout the offseason. Situational football was emphasized, along with consistency.

However, some significant pieces from last year’s team are no longer in Norman.

OU’s rushing attack ranked No. 10 in the country, averaging 219.4 yards per game. The offensive line responsible for that lost three starters in [autotag]Anton Harrison[/autotag], [autotag]Wanya Morris[/autotag], and [autotag]Chris Murray[/autotag]. Harrison was a first-rounder to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Morris was a third-rounder to the Kansas City Chiefs. Starting running back [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag] went off and posted the ninth-best season on the ground in program history last year. He’s with the New York Giants.

[autotag]Brayden Willis[/autotag] and explosive star receiver [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag] will be missed in the passing game. Willis is with the San Francisco 49ers, and Mims was a third-round pick by the Denver Broncos. The two combined for 1,597 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. That’s an insane amount of production lost and presents a massive hole in the passing game.

The challenge in the offseason for Lebby was finding replacements for the names lost. Additionally, he and the offensive staff had to help develop the guys coming back this offseason. The time to prove it starts on Saturday.

With that in mind, here’s our look at three offensive players to watch for the season opener against Arkansas State.

Up Next: An Ascending Offensive Linemen

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Media weighs in on Oklahoma’s breakout player, toughest game in 2023

OU and College Football Media Personalities weigh in on which Sooners will have a breakout season for Oklahoma in 2023. Which game will be the toughest this season?

The 2023 college football season is nigh upon us. The Oklahoma Sooners open the season with the Arkansas State Red Wolves coming to town.

A new year creates new opportunities for players on both sides of the ball to experience breakout seasons.

While depth was an issue a year ago, the work of this coaching staff on the recruiting trail and through the transfer portal have helped create competition at a number of spots. The Sooners feel good about the “competitive depth” they’re carrying into the season across the board.

Oklahoma released its depth chart ahead of week one, which provided some answers to the position battles they’ve been working through this year. But how will that depth reveal itself on gameday and which players will experience breakout seasons in 2023?

We’ve gathered the opinions of a number of media personalities from across Oklahoma Sooners coverage. Here’s who they think will have a breakout year and which game will be the toughest in 2023.

From my days covering the Dallas Cowboys for Inside The Star, this has been one of my favorite pieces to create.

Hope you enjoy.