Oklahoma’s Offensive Line Made History Against Mississippi for All the Wrong Reasons

OXFORD, MS — Oklahoma’s offensive line set a program record for the second straight week.

And that’s not a history anyone in the Red and Cream wants to remember.

Sooners allowed 10 sacks on Saturday 18. Lost to Mississippi 26-14It’s the most sacks allowed by OU since the NCAA began tracking sacks as an official statistic in 2000. Three of those sacks were allowed in the first half and seven came after intermission.

“The first half was really good. The second half wasn’t so good” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables He said the following about the team after the match. “We’re two points behind, that’s part of it. It doesn’t help that Jacob Sexton gets hurt.

“… At times I thought we did a really good job with chip protection. You can’t do the things we need to do to win the game throughout the entire game. I should be better there. This is terrible, know that. The first half was a little cleaner in this respect. He kept the quarterback upright. It had a really nice rhythm. “The second half, not so much.”

Most of the good from the offensive line was in the first half.

The Sooners (4-4, 1-4 SEC) rushed for 125 yards against the nation’s best rushing defense, which was allowing under 70 yards per game entering the weekend.

Oklahoma’s ability to open holes for running backs Jovantae BarnesHe continued to keep the Rebels’ defensive front guessing, finishing the game with 67 yards on 16 carries.

Temporary game seeker Joe Jon Finley moved the pocket for the quarterback Jackson Arnold This resulted in positive results against Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2).

OU went on two of its six longest drives of the season; This included a 92-yard march at the end of the half that gave the visitors a 14-10 lead.

But the bottom fell out in the third quarter.

In 12 plays, OU gained only 23 yards.

Ole Miss’ offense stepped up and the Sooners quickly found themselves in a two-possession hole.

From there, Mississippi selected left tackle Logan Howland and left guard. Heath Ozaeta when the two young pieces are then forced into action jake taylor It was a late scratch after the trip to Oxford and Sexton went off injured in the divisional quarter.

“Man, it’s just like playing in the NFL; it’s going to be a lot harder if you use your left jab,” Finley said after the loss. “But it’s my job to help him and put him in a situation where he can be successful, and I didn’t do a good enough job of doing that.”

Howland and Ozaeta, however, are not responsible for OU’s problems in SEC play.

Last week, Oklahoma’s offensive line allowed nine sacks to nine different South Carolina defenders.

In five SEC games, OU’s quarterbacks were sacked 30 times.

A year ago, Oklahoma surrendered just 20 sacks during the 13-game season.

“Frankly, it sucks,” the center said Troy Everett in question. “Go out there in the first half and play pretty well, obviously there are some things that need to be worked on. We go out on the field in the second half, we still dribble the ball, we still do this. “We need to finish, we need to be better.”

Given enough time, Arnold played well enough to keep OU in the game.

He completed 22 of 21 passes for 182 yards and two scores. Before the sack was subtracted from his yardage total, Arnold was also able to rush for 103 yards, but finished with only 39 total rushing yards after being dropped nine times.

Arnold’s only turnover was a fumble that saw right winger Febechi Nwaiwu slowly cross the line. As a result, Arnold was destroyed at the net by Barnes and the ball went out.

There will likely be no real answers to OU’s problems in advance; at least in 2024.

Even when healthy, the unit struggled to give the offense a chance to run with real efficiency.

In upcoming games, offensive line coach Bill Kendibaugh may opt to launch the youth movement in full force. This week, Venables said the coaching staff went back and forth about whether to try to keep true freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis’ redshirt after he appeared in the season opener against Temple.

The transfers of Michael Tarquin, Spencer Brown and Nwaiwu will not affect Oklahoma’s future plans.

A postponement should be offered next week as OU welcomes Maine to Norman, but nothing is known about how Kendibaugh’s team plays in 2024.

While the results have been historically bad, the Sooners may have to live with the mistakes made by youngsters like Howland and Ozaeta because that’s the only way the duo can learn.

“I’m proud of Logan for how he fought, I’m proud of Sexton for trying to come through that fight,” Finley said. “I’m proud of this group of guys because a lot of people wrote them off, didn’t give them a chance, and they came to work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and they came out swinging today. “I am extremely proud of them.”