Season in a sentence
Don’t forget, you signed up for this.
Three Highs
- Beating Alabama
Possibly the biggest upset in college football all season. Alabama was a shoe-in for the playoff with two games left in the regular season and Oklahoma beat them by 21 with only 68 yards passing.
- Getting to a bowl game
The win over Alabama secured the Sooners sixth win of the season which made them bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive season. That’s the second longest streak in FBS, behind Georgia.
- Did we mention beating Alabama
It’s hard to put into words how much worse the optics would have been for Brent Venables in this program without that win. It was one of the worst years for the program since Y2K, but for one night in November, they were once again on top of the College football world.
Three Lows
- Texas—the game and in general
Not only did their arch rival make it to the college Football Playoff semifinals for the second straight season, but they absolutely drubbed the Sooners 34-3 in the Cotton Bowl.
- The South Carolina loss
People forget that Oklahoma was a 4.5 point favorite in this game to start the week. By kickoff they were an underdog and by the end of the first quarter it was over. They were down 21-0 in the first ten minutes at home and lost by 26, while allowing nine sacks.
- The offensive line
They had the worst offensive line in program history. There’s not much more to say. They gave up half a hundred sacks in their first season in the SEC.
The Offense
A disaster. The offense was an absolute disaster last season. The Sooners had to fire their offensive coordinator halfway through the season and at the time ranked 114th or worse nationally in every major statistical category.
It started up front with the offensive line, which was arguably the worst in program history. They allowed 50 sacks this season. Not only was that the most in the country, it was the most of any SEC team in the last decade, and 17 more than they allowed in any season in the Big 12 since 2016. That’s saying the quiet part out loud which is—they weren’t ready for the SEC.
In Oklahoma’s defense, they did have one of the worst rash of injuries to a unit since Gettysburg. They lost their top five wide receivers for nearly the entire SEC season. They didn’t just have one or two key pieces out. They had their top five receivers at the position all out at once for over 70% of the season. That’s insane. Between that and the horrifically bad offensive line play, it’s no wonder Jackson Arnold looked so underwhelming, despite his hype and former blue chip ranking out of high school.
Offensive Grade: F
The Defense
It was weird to see the achilles heel of this team be the offense and not the defense. However, the defense was hands down the strength and backbone of this year’s team. They allowed only 21.5 points per game. That’s the fewest they’d allowed in a decade. They also only allowed 318.2 yards per game, which ranked No. 6 in the SEC and top 20 nationally.
Let’s also be clear—just because the defense was the strength this season doesn’t mean they were great. The bar was set incredibly low by the offense it’s being compared to.
Defensive Grade: C+
Overall Grade
Oklahoma fans came into their debut season in the SEC with a lot of confidence. Actually, let’s just call a spade a spade and use the correct term which is arrogance. It’s easy to understand why and where that came from. Oklahoma has been one of the most dominant programs in the sport in the last 25 years.
Injuries decimated them offensively and the instability around playcallers and coordinators didn’t help either. They lost a Heisman finalist quarterback to the transfer portal and were left with a former five star quarterback with a ton of potential. However, potential can only go so far when you surround it with a future insurance salesman at receiver, three playcallers in less than 11 months, and an offensive line that had more holes in it than the plot to Sharknado.
Winning masks everything and thank God that’s the case for Brent Venables, because that win over Alabama kept the wolves at bay for at least another year. The good news for the Sooners is that next year is a fresh start. They have a new offensive coordinator and arguably the top player in the transfer portal coming in at quarterback. Vibes are high. Well, they’re at least higher than they were in October, that’s for sure.
Overall Season Grade: C-
