Mid-Season Report Card: Oklahoma's Offense has few Bright Spots

NORMAN — The college football season is no longer in its early stages.

Oklahoma’s 21-13 loss to Kentucky last weekend marked the midpoint of the season.

So there’s been plenty of time to draw conclusions about the state of the program and its various pieces.

At that midpoint, we take a position-by-position look at the Sooners and give each group a grade.

The grades in the first of two installments of the report cards will be on the lower side.

Oklahoma’s offense has struggled for much of the season.

Since scoring 51 points in the season opener against UTEP, a team who is just 1-6, the Sooners have averaged just 15.4 points and less than 297 yards per game.

The grades won’t be extremely kind to this group, but here they are:

Quarterback: D-

The good: The bright spot of John Mateer’s season is the final two throws against Texas.

The fifth-year senior hit Isaiah Sategna on back-to-back passes to set up Tate Sandell’s game-winning field goal that knocked off the top-ranked Longhorns.

Mateer carried over that momentum to the first half of the loss to Kentucky, going 14 of 20 for 167 yards and a touchdown and no interceptions in the first half before things took a turn for the worse after halftime.

The Sooners have also stretched the field more this season with seven passing touchdowns of 20 or more yards after registering just 11 all of last season.

The bad: Pretty much the rest of the season other than those highlights.

Mateer has thrown nearly as many interceptions (seven) as touchdowns (nine), and has also struggled with fumbles.

Mateer didn’t need to be a Heisman Trophy-type quarterback, but some of the turnovers have been so head scratching and they’ve cost the Sooners in their losses to Michigan, Georgia and Kentucky.

After an offseason where Mateer’s growth was a major talking point, it’s been disappointing to see his regression instead.

This time his struggles can’t be attributed to a hand injury.

It isn’t all on his shoulders, but Mateer has to avoid turnovers that turn into backbreakers.

As much as Mateer has struggled, it's clear OU coaches don't (yet at least) trust backups Whitt Newbauer or Bowe Bentley to run the offense.

Running Backs: D

The good: Lloyd Avant has been consistently the Sooners’ best option in the backfield with 267 yards and two touchdowns on 60 carries so far. The Colorado State transfer was looked on as a filler option for the back half of the rotation but has been the closest thing to a bright spot in an otherwise bleak group in Deland McCullough’s first season as running backs coach.

The bad: Xavier Robinson has been a virtual non-entity in the backfield. Since running for 30 yards in the opener, Robinson has just six carries for 20 yards since and hasn’t played since Sept. 26. Sophomore Tory Blaylock and freshman Jonathan Hatton Jr. have been banged up as well, and have just 113 yards on 39 carries combined, though Blaylock appears to be rounding into form at least. No player on Oklahoma’s roster outside of Avant has even 80 yards rushing this season — not even Mateer, who rushed for more than 400 yards and eight touchdowns last season. Backup quarterback Whitt Newbauer is the only Sooner with a rushing touchdown outside of Avant.

Wide Receivers: C-

The good: Isaiah Sategna has been excellent once again, with 33 catches for 414 yards and two touchdowns. Trell Harris was off to a solid start, with six catches for 104 yards and a score, before an injury knocked him out for what could be the rest of the season. Outside of that, there hasn’t been much positive outside of Manny Choice’s big game against Kentucky where he had five catches for 98 yards.

The bad: Maybe Choice emerges as a steady No. 2 option among the wideouts in the second half but there hasn’t been a ton of production outside of Sategna (and Harris, before he injury) among the group. Elijah Thomas, who once again generated plenty of buzz in the offseason, has just five catches for 49 yards while Texas transfer Parker Livingstone has just six for 51 yards. Neither have found the end zone. Of course, part of the problem there lies in Mateer’s struggles as well as the offensive line’s, but the Sooners expected to have more depth at receiver this season and Emmett Jones’ group has yet to deliver that.

Tight Ends: B+

The good: Finally, one bright spot where this initial section figures to be longer than the second. The Sooners overhauled this room in the offseason, starting with position coach Jason Witten. After the tight end spot was mostly an afterthought for the last several years, it has become a vital piece of Oklahoma’s limited offensive success. Colorado State transfer Rocky Beers might be Oklahoma’s offensive Most Valuable Player through the first six games, with 26 catches for 329 yards and three touchdowns. Beers has the highest Pro Football Focus grade through six games of the offensive regulars outside of Isaiah Sategna. Florida transfer Hayden Hansen has six catches for 79 yards and a score and has also been a strong run-blocking presence. Even Trynae Washington, who is the No, 4 tight end, carved out a role for himself early, though he’s been injured in recent weeks.

The bad: It’s hard to criticize this group too much. Yes, you’d like a more consistent blocking presence outside of Hansen, but it certainly hasn’t been bad. After a few years of tight ends being a liability in the offense, it’s surprising to say that the tight ends are the most stable group of the Sooners’ offensive attack now. Imagine how much worse the offense would look without the contributions of Beers and Hansen.

Offensive line: F

The good: Noah Best has been the clear bright spot among a group where there have been precious few positive developments. The freshman has already made starts at center, right guard and left guard, and has shown steady improvement. He even showed off his tackling ability after one of the turnovers against Kentucky. Best looks like he could be a star in the making.

The bad: Just about everything else. Michael Fasusi has played just 17 snaps this season so far after re-injuring his shoulder against UTEP. Ryan Fodje missed that opener, then had to move from guard to tackle (after moving over to center when Jake Maikkula was out) with Fasusi’s injury, and now his status is in doubt moving forward after being injured in the second half of the loss to Kentucky.. Maikkula has been OK since his return. Eddy Pierre-Louis and Heath Ozaeta have each missed time recently and both have struggled for stretches. Arkansas transfer E’Marion Harris has not been good at all at the right tackle spot. The Sooners have rushed for just 24 yards on eight carries off right tackle through six games, their lowest total among any of the spots from end to end. Coming into the season, Bill Bedenbaugh, Ben Arbuckle and Brent Venables all talked about the depth they expected to have on the offensive front but that has plainly not been the case. Fodje was forced to remain in the game vs. Kentucky after his injury because they didn’t even have a player who could fill in at that level. Peyton Joseph has been pressed into service at both tackle and guard and hasn’t been particularly effective at either. Injuries have certainly had a massive effect, similar to the wide receiver struggles a couple seasons ago, but the Sooners should be able to block better. Oklahoma is averaging just 92.5 yards per game and has allowed 2.8 sacks per game.

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