Is This Bob Stoops’ Best Oklahoma Team on Offense?
By Chip Rouse
Bob Stoops has had a number of high-scoring, high-powered offensive teams in his 18 seasons heading the Oklahoma football program, but some think this year might be the best of them all.
While the Sooner defense is having its struggles this season, the offense is putting up historic numbers and is on a track to position itself as one of the best at a school that is well known for having some of college football’s most prolific offenses.
Head coach Bob Stoops doesn’t like comparing players and different eras, but even the Sooner head coach knows he has something very special in this year’s group.
Sporting the nation’s third-ranked offense in terms of total yards (557.4), this year’s Oklahoma team is having a season on offense that statistically rivals the 2008 Sooner squad, widely considered to be the best offensive team in Stoops’ 18 seasons at OU.
I’ve been closely following Oklahoma football for well over 50 years, and while I’m not willing to say this is the best offensive team in the modern era of OU football, I believe it could well be in the top five and without question among the ten best, going all the way back to the Bud Wilkinson years.
It is interesting to compare the 2008 Sooner offense with the 2016 edition. Both teams featured its own version of a triple-headed-monster attack. The 2008 team had Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford at quarterback and running back DeMarco Murray and wide receiver Ryan Broyles as his prime weapons.
This year’s OU team has a similar look and output on offense, with Baker Mayfield at the controls and Joe Mixon and Dede Westbrook creating all kinds of defensive havoc like their counterparts in the 2008 Sooner offense.
The 2008 team put more points on the scoreboard, but the offensive yards and individual numbers favor this year’s squad, at least through 10 games.
An article this week by OU beat writer Brooke Pryor in the Oklahoma City Oklahoman points out that the offense Bradford led in 2008 averaged 547.9 yards per game. This year’s team is averaging slightly more, at 557.4. The 2008 team boasted a higher offensive efficiency, however, scoring on 57 percent of its overall possessions that season, compared with a 54-percent efficiency rating for this year’s OU team.
Individually, Mayfield is not likely to catch Bradford’s 2008 number in passing yards (4,720) or touchdown passes (50), but his 72-percent completion percentage and phenomenal 195.2 pass efficiency rating are better than Bradford’s 2008 stats. Moreover, Mayfield’s 80 touchdown passes in his first 23 games for Oklahoma is better than the 73 Bradford recorded in the same number of games.
In 2008, the OU offense averaged 6.9 yards per play, 4.7 yards per rush and 14.0 yards per catch. The Sooner offense this season is currently averaging 7.6 yards per play, the best in the Stoops era, 5.3 yards per carry and 14.7 yards per reception.
With the Sooners playing their two biggest challengers in the conference championship race – West Virginia and Oklahoma State – in their final two game of the regular season, the offensive numbers for this year’s squad are probably going to come down a little.
The fact remains, however, that the Oklahoma offense this season is not only the best in the Big 12 and one of the best in the nation, but it is on a track to become the best under the winningest coach in Sooner football history. And that says something.