Can Oklahoma Sooners win ‘Beamer Ball’ battle vs. South Carolina?

The Sooners can’t afford to let “Beamer Ball” be their undoing this week.

The Oklahoma Sooners are 4-2 entering week eight of the 2024 college football season, and they’re 1-2 in [autotag]SEC[/autotag] play. They’ll look to bounce back from last week’s tough loss against Texas at home against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday.

To say OU has struggled mightily on offense this season would be an understatement. While the defense has held up their end of the bargain, the Sooners haven’t been able to put points on the board.

The Gamecocks have had similar problems this year, although not as drastic. They boast an excellent defense, but an offense that has struggled at times to move the ball.

However, the third phase of the game of football will be very important this week, as special teams may come to Oklahoma’s aid in this contest, or be their demise.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer knows more about special teams than just about any other coach in the country. His father, Frank Beamer, famously coached Virginia Tech to plenty of success with “Beamer Ball” and his son has followed in his footsteps. The Beamers are excellent on special teams, often earning their teams an edge in that department.

Shane Beamer actually coached at Oklahoma from 2018 to 2020 in a variety of roles (including special teams), before he got his current gig in Columbia. The Gamecocks nearly upset LSU early this season, and used a remarkable onside kick to come within a drive of defeating Alabama last week. South Carolina is a worthy opponent for the Sooners, especially on special teams, with the Oklahoma offense stuck in neutral (or park, or reverse).

Oklahoma head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] made special teams a point of emphasis this offseason, after the Sooners had far too many mistakes in that department in his first two years at the helm. Special teams analyst [autotag]Doug Deakin[/autotag] was hired away from San Diego State to replace Jay Nunez, who took a job at Alabama.

Through six games, OU hasn’t been remarkable on special teams, but the big mistakes that bit them last year haven’t shown up as much. But it’ll take everybody to win that battle against Beamer and the Gamecocks.

Punter [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag] leads the way for this unit, as he’s had an excellent season. Time and time again, Elzinga has been counted upon to win the field position battle, and time and time again, he’s delivered. He hasn’t had a punt blocked, and he’s honestly one of Oklahoma’s best players, regardless of position. As OU continues to struggle on offense, but play well defensively, field position will be crucial.

The trio of kicker [autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag], holder [autotag]Josh Plaster[/autotag] and long snapper [autotag]Ben Anderson[/autotag] will have to be solid on field goals and extra points this week, as South Carolina will capitalize on any mistakes. Keltner has missed a couple of kicks this season, including one against Texas, but is still an improvement over what the position has seen the last couple of years. The Sooners also have not had a kick blocked.

OU’s kickoff specialist, [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] (who stepped in nicely as the starter at kicker for Keltner against Auburn), can’t give the Gamecocks any un-earned opportunities either, as the Sooners defense needs all the help they can get.

If the Sooners could block a punt or a kick, that would be fantastic, but South Carolina doesn’t make many special teams errors. Oklahoma also will have to be careful they don’t give up a big return.

In the return game, Oklahoma hasn’t gotten anything substantial, though they are dealing with some injuries to their kickoff returners. Without Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks in the lineup, that duty has fallen to players like Billy Bowman, [autotag]Sam Franklin[/autotag], Gavin Sawchuk and Devon Jordan. Franklin seems to be the preferred option, but he is currently questionable for this game, as is Burks.

[autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] is the primary punt returner, with Bowman as a backup option. Bowen was excellent returning punts in high school, and has shown potential, but hasn’t gotten loose for a big play yet at the college level.

Lastly, OU will have to avoid special teams penalties, which has not exactly been a strength through six games.

That means being disciplined and paying attention to the little details in order to keep from making those errors. Whether it’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalties or procedure penalties, they simply can’t happen on special teams in any game, this one included. They’ll also need to keep the antenna up for momentum-shifting plays like onside kicks or fakes that can swing things in favor of South Carolina.

With his offense trying to find solutions at this point in the season, Venables will be looking for his special teams to out-duel “Beamer Ball” and help his defense come away with the win.

Sooners kicker wins SEC Special Teams Player of the Week

The Oklahoma Sooners earned their first SEC Weekly Award after a great week from kicker Tyler Keltner.

Special teams was an area that the Oklahoma Sooners needed drastic improvement. The punting situation improved over the second half of last season, but the return game and the kicking game didn’t help the Sooners much.

Well, one game into the 2024 season, the kicking game looks improved. Transfer kicker [autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag] was 3-for-3, including makes 50, 42, and 24 yards. He was also perfect on his six extra-point attempts. Keltner was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts and earned Oklahoma’s first weekly award in the SEC.

After transferring from Florida State in the spring, Keltner battled with incumbent starter [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] this offseason. Keltner earned the first opportunity to hold down the kicking job and came through in his first game action as a Sooner.

It’s an important revelation for the Sooners, who will need their special teams units to be good to have a chance to contend in 2024. With Oklahoma’s defense leading the way and the offense under transition, OU can’t afford to leave points on the field.

Keltner’s performance provides a lot of confidence in the kicking situation moving forward. He’ll get another opportunity to ply his craft this Saturday evening when the Sooners take on the Houston Cougars.

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Stingy defense leads Sooners to 51-3 win over Temple Owls

The Oklahoma Sooners defense forced six turnovers to lead the way in a 51-3 win over the Temple Owls.

The Oklahoma Sooners took care of business in their 51-3 win over the Temple Owls.

On a night when OU honored the 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, squads that had great defenses, OU’s defense led the way for the Sooners, forcing six turnovers.

Temple took the opening kick, but couldn’t create much before going three and out. And that was about as productive as the Owls would be in the first half. Defensively, Oklahoma forced Temple to go punt, fumble, punt, interception, fumble, punt, punt, and fumble.

[autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag] forced the Sooners first turnover of the season, a strip of quarterback Forrest Brock, which was recovered by Da’Jon Terry. Cornerback [autotag]Kani Walker[/autotag] grabbed Oklahoma’s first interception of the season picking off a tipped pass by cheetah linebacker [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag]. [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] and [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag] also forced fumbles in the first half to help create a strong start in the turnover department for the Sooners.

The Sooners offense took advantage of a stingy defensive effort by scoring on six of their eight possessions in the first half.

On the Sooner’s first offensive possession, [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] led OU on a seven-play 76-yard touchdown drive, culminating in a 14-yard scoring strike between Arnold and tight end [autotag]Bauer Sharp[/autotag]. It was the first of four touchdown passes for the Sooners five-star quarterback, who was making his first start at home.

The Sooners took advantage of good field position provided by the defense to lead a five-play, 46-yard drive ending on Arnold’s second touchdown pass of the day, this time to [autotag]Deion Burks[/autotag].

[autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag] provided some answers at kicker, nailing field goal attempts of 50 and 46 yards to put the Sooners up 20-0.

Though the offense slowed a bit in the second quarter, they closed the half strong, with touchdowns on two of their last three possessions. A nice return from [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] gave OU the ball in the Temple half of the field, and Oklahoma drove the ball 44 yards on five plays for another Burks touchdown.

After OU punted late in the half, the defense forced yet another turnover inside the Temple 10-yard line, and Arnold cashed in with his fourth touchdown pass of the day and third to Burks to put Oklahoma up 34-0 at halftime.

In the second half, the Sooners’ offense struggled to get going punting on their first possession. The defense forced a three and out and Keltner pushed his third field goal of the day through the uprights to put the Sooners up 37-0.

Temple began to generate some offense on their second possession of the half, moving the ball inside the Sooners 20-yard line. However, sacks from [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag] and a combination of [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] and [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag] put the Owls in a 3rd-and-22 situation. After an incomplete pass, Temple kicked a field goal for their only points of the game.

The rest of the way, it was about the Sooners’ defense. [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag] forced a fumble on a punt, which was scooped up by [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag] and returned for a touchdown.

True freshman safety [autotag]Jaydan Hardy[/autotag] recorded the first interception of his Sooners career, the sixth of the game for Oklahoma.

On Oklahoma’s final drive of the game, it was true freshman running back [autotag]Taylor Tatum[/autotag] doing the heavy lifting. He carried the ball four times for 66 yards, finishing the drive with an eight-yard touchdown. Fellow true freshman quarterback [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] also looked good on the drive, showing off his athleticism and quick release to help the Sooners move the ball down the field.

Defensive tackle [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag] finished off the Owls with a pair of sacks on their final drive of the game.

It was a strong defensive performance, however, as the Sooners allowed just 197 yards of total offense and 1.9 yards per rushing attempt. The Sooners forced six turnovers, recorded six sacks nine tackles for loss, and rarely let the Owls offense create much momentum.

The Sooners offense looked good in stretches, but with several starters out along the offensive line, there wasn’t much cohesion up front. Arnold was sacked four times, and regularly the Sooners rushing attack was bottled up. A talking point for much of the offseason wasn’t resolved in week one and perhaps has created more questions.

Though the running game produced 217 yards at 6.2 yards per carry, it wasn’t a consistent performance, especially in the first half. Oklahoma ran for 87 yards in the first half and 130 yards in the second.

Arnold was efficient, going 17 of 25 for 141 yards and four touchdowns. Though his yards per attempt (5.64) will be nothing to write home about, he didn’t have a ton of time to work the ball down the field. Yet he played mistake-free football, and with a defense like Oklahoma’s is key.

Injuries along the offensive line will be important to monitor moving forward. [autotag]Branson Hickman[/autotag] exited the game with an ankle injury. [autotag]Geirean Hatchett[/autotag] and [autotag]Joshua Bates[/autotag] finished the game at center for the Sooners.

[autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] is also an injury situation to monitor. He left the game early as well. Farooq came through with a big 47-yard possession on the Sooners opening drive of the game. Brent Venables revealed after the game that Farooq broke his foot and will be out 4-6 weeks.

It was a solid performance from the Sooners in all three phases. If they can continue to get defensive efforts like the one tonight against Temple, it’ll take a lot of pressure off of an offense that has some questions to answer along the offensive line. They’ll need to improve their rushing attack as they move forward, but there were some building blocks to work with.

The Sooners move to 1-0 on the season and get set to host the Houston Cougars in week two.

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Oklahoma Sooners still looking for an answer at Kicker

Two players are battling to become the starting kicker for Oklahoma in 2024.

The Oklahoma Sooners released their first official depth chart of the 2024 season on Sunday evening, letting fans know the players who will start Week 1 against Temple.

One underrated position battle for head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] heading into Year 3 is at the kicker position. OU needs to be better on special teams this season, beginning with their success rate on field goals. Venables knows this will be doubly important with the Sooners entering the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], where the margin between failure and success is even smaller than what Oklahoma is used to.

In addition, OU is breaking in a new special teams analyst. [autotag]Jay Nunez[/autotag] is out and [autotag]Doug Deakin[/autotag] takes over after coming over from San Diego State. Venables and Deakin held a kicker competition this offseason, but with the release of the initial depth chart, it seems the spot still hasn’t been decided yet.

A pair of redshirt seniors, [autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag] and [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag], are battling for the right to be named Oklahoma’s starter. Keltner is the newcomer in the race after joining the Sooners via the portal this offseason. Schmit is the incumbent and is one of the longest-tenured players on the roster. He’s been the starter for each of the last two seasons.

At the other specialist positions, redshirt senior [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag] will retain the starting punter job that he earned midway through last season. Redshirt sophomore [autotag]Ben Anderson[/autotag] will serve as the long-snapper, redshirt senior [autotag]Josh Plaster[/autotag] will be the holder and Schmit will retain his role as Oklahoma’s kickoff specialist.

Sophomore safety [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] gets the nod as OU’s punt returner, a move fans will be happy to see, as he was electric returning punts in high school. A pair of seniors, safety [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] and wide receiver [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag], will be the kickoff returners to begin the season. Oklahoma needs to be better in the kick return game this year than they were in 2023, as a couple of costly mistakes hurt the Sooners in their two regular season losses.

OU will begin their foray into the SEC on Friday night in Norman, as they’ll look to start strong against Temple. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m.

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Who has the leg up in Oklahoma’s kicker competition heading into fall camp?

Incoming kicker has a leg up in the competition entering fall camp.

The Oklahoma Sooners begin their 2024 season in a little over five weeks. Fall camp is right around the corner, when many position battles will be decided heading into the regular season.

Unlike in the pros, college football doesn’t have a preseason, so everything will be decided on the practice field before OU kicks off its season in Aug. 30.

One area Oklahoma is looking to improve upon is special teams after a tough 2023 in that department. While [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag] solidified the punter’s job over the second half of the season, the kicker spot is another situation entirely.

[autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] has been OU’s starting kicker for each of the past two seasons. He’s been perfect on extra points, but he has struggled kicking field goals, especially long ones. In 2022, he went 12-for-18, converting just 66.7% of the time. Last season, Schmit went 15-for-21, hitting at a 71.4% clip. However, he missed two field goals against UCF that could have doomed the Sooners in a two-point win. He also had misses against Iowa State, Texas, Oklahoma State and BYU. Three of those four games were decided by one score. The [autotag]Bedlam[/autotag] loss, in particular, was a three-point margin.

Head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and new special teams analyst [autotag]Doug Deakin[/autotag] know the Sooners will have to be sharper on special teams exiting the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] and entering the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. Every phase of the game and every aspect of the program has to be operating in peak form to win in the SEC; that’s just the way it is in this conference.

Oklahoma went into the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag] to get help at kicker this offseason, adding Florida State transfer [autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag]. He kicked just one extra point last year for the Seminoles, but was a four-year starter at East Tennessee State, making 75% of his field goals.

The Sooners also added a kicker to their [autotag]recruiting[/autotag] class, [autotag]Liam Evans[/autotag]. The true freshman reportedly has the biggest leg of the group and could represent the future at the position.

The kicker battle has been happening under the surface this offseason. SoonerScoop’s George Stoia shared from the OU Football Coaches Luncheon that Keltner is the favorite to win the job according to Venables.

Venables also mentioned Schmit will compete with Keltner in camp to remain the starter.

Whether Keltner continues to have the leg up or the incumbent Schmit takes back the job, the position can’t be the reason Oklahoma falters in one of the many close games they’re about to play in entering the SEC.

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Kicking, special teams became a problem for OU in 2024; Sooners banking on competition to pay off

Special teams wasn’t special for the Oklahoma Sooners last year but here’s hoping competition and a coaching change can turn it around.

The Sooners struggles on special teams went beyond the kicking situation in 2023. The return game didn’t provide much and was at times a detriment to the team.

Head coach Brent Venables had to find a new special teams coordinator after Jay Nunez left for the same position at Alabama. But that might have been a blessing in disguise.

According to ESPN’s overall efficiency rankings for 2023, Oklahoma’s special teams—placekicking, punting, punt return, kickoff coverage, and kickoff return—ranked No. 127 last year.

That’s not good enough, especially for a team that, while much improved, needed to be perfect in other aspects of the game. Heading to the SEC, there’s less margin for error as Oklahoma’s talent won’t be enough to win games. They’ll need every bit of a competitive advantage. That could come by way of special teams.

So Venables went out and hired former San Diego State special teams coordinator Doug Deakin as a special teams analyst.

Why Deakin?

In each of the last three seasons, the Aztecs finished in the top 10 in ESPN’s special teams efficiency rating. In 2022, the Aztecs ranked No. 2, and last year, they were No. 9. While he’s an analyst and won’t be on the field during game days, Deakin will coordinate this unit with the rest of the on-field staff to create a better and more positively impactful special teams unit for the Sooners. And he comes to Oklahoma with some work to do on the kicking and return game front.

Oklahoma’s field goal kicking wasn’t as good as it needed to be for the Sooners in 2023. Sure, it wasn’t horrible, but by the end of the season, trotting out Zach Schmit genuinely felt like a coin flip, even from distances inside the 40-yard line.

The Sooners’ kicker made less than 75% of his kicks for the second straight season. Schmitt missed six kicks in 2022 and six in 2023. Schmit was just 6 of 11 on attempts from beyond 30 yards. He had a miss in Oklahoma’s three-point loss to Oklahoma State that turned out to be a killer.

So, where do the fixes lie? Well, competition and better schemes are the plan.

OU secured a commitment from Florida State transfer kicker Tyler Keltner this winter.

Keltner is a redshirt senior who spent the first four seasons of his college career at East Tennessee State. He made 56 of 74 field-goal attempts and earned two All-SoCon second-team selections. He then spent this past season at Florida State, where he appeared in one game and converted on his only attempt.

He and Liam Evans, a 2024 commit, will add fresh legs and competition to that room. Evans was ranked the number seven kicker in the nation, according to Kohl’s Kicking Camp.

The punt return game can be better too. After [autotag]Gavin Freeman[/autotag]’s return for a touchdown against Arkansas State, the return game never seemed to click. Freeman muffed multiple punts in crucial moments that flipped the momentum in games. He also had just 122 punt return yards on the season, including that 82 yard return against Arkansas State.

The competition for punt return duties will be much more open than last year. Freeman will have a shot, but [autotag]Deion Burks[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaquaize Pettaway[/autotag] could push for opportunities. On kick return, Jalil Farooq will likely continue to lead the way for the Sooners, but Oklahoma will push him with competition as well.

According to the ESPN efficiency marker, Deakin’s special teams units at his previous school ranked in the top 10 nationally for three straight years.

If there’s a positive outlook on the return game, it’s the emergence of punter Luke Elzinga. Though it took time for the Sooners to settle on who their punter would be last year, once they went with Elzinga, they never turned back. His efficiency, power, and ability to drop the ball inside the 20 allowed Brent Venables to play the field position game more.

As the Sooners move to the SEC, they’ll see their competition improve week in and week out. They can’t afford to be average in any phase of the game and special teams is an area that has to be a winning phase for them in 2024.

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