Oklahoma football: Sooners spreading the wealth on offense

One of the keys to the sustained success of Oklahoma football as one of the country’s elite offensive teams is the depth of players at the skill positions that are playing a contributing role.

It all starts with the quarterback, of course, who is the manager and chief facilitator of the offense. And in Kyler Murray, the Sooners have one of the nation’s best this season at that critical position.

Murray is the one garnering most of the headlines, and with good reason given the season he and the Sooners are having, but he would be the first to tell you that the flashy numbers he is putting up are a product of the breadth and depth of the weapons he has to work with. And you can  definitely count the athletic and multi-talented Murray as the triggerman and  prime playmaker.

Last Saturday, at home against Kansas State, the Oklahoma offense gained a season-high 702 yards of offense and averaged 10.2 yards per play: Of that total, 380 was on the ground and 322  through the air. Saturday’s output was the third time this season the Sooners have produced 600 or more yards of total offense.

Murray, whose statistics through eight games exceed those of Baker Mayfield, Sam Bradford and Jason White in each of their Heisman seasons, completed 22 of 29 passes against Kansas State, including two touchdowns, giving him 28 for the season. More importantly, those 22 catches were distributed among 12 different Sooner receivers, six of whom hauled in two or more receptions.

On the season, 19 different Sooners have caught a pass this season, led by junior Marquise “Hollywood” Brown with 40 receptions for 738 yards and seven touchdowns. Twelve of Brown’s 40 catches have been for 50 yards or more, best in the country through eight games. CeeDee Lamb has 34 catches for 674 yards and nine touchdowns in 2018.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

The single-season career receiving record at Oklahoma is held by Ryan Broyles (131 catches for 1,622 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2010). Dede Westbrook is No. 2 with 80 receptions for 1,524 yards and 17 TDs in 2016).

Against Kansas State, Oklahoma used four different running backs in addition to Murray. Redshirt freshman Kennedy Brooks and true freshman T.J. Pledger ran for 94 and 91 yards, respectively. And a week ago at TCU, Brooks and Trey Sermon each exceeded 100 rushing yards on the day.

And don’t forget that the Sooners lost their best running back, when redshirt junior Rodney Anderson went down with a knee injury in the second game, which will keep him out the rest of the season. Anderson led all players in the country with over 1,000 rushing yards over the final eight games of the season a year ago and rushed for over 200 yards against the nation’s No. 4 defensive unit in the Georgia Bulldogs in last year’s College Football Playoff.

Seven different Sooners, including five running backs, have run with the ball this season as part of OU’s rushing attack, that ranks 13th among FBS teams, averaging 237.3 yards per game. Four Sooners have gained more than 400 yards on the ground.

One part of the Oklahoma attack that hasn’t seen any spreading of the wealth this season s the Sooner kicking game, where senior Austin Seibert performs all of the placekicking and punting duties. Seibert has made 142 consecutive extra-point attempts and his career scoring total of 439 points moved him into a ninth-place tie on the NCAA career list and fourth among Big 12 career scoring leaders. He ranks fourth in the Big 12 this season, averaging 42.5 yards per punt.