Oklahoma football: Takeaways from the first 3 weeks and a 3-0 record
By Chip Rouse
Even with four new offensive line starters, the offense is still hitting on all cylinders
Oklahoma lost four offensive line starters from last season. All four were drafted within the first four rounds in last spring’s NFL Draft. With only one starter returning (center Creed Humphrey), it was reasonable to expect some growing pains as four new starters gained game experience and got more comfortable playing together.
The X-factor in all of this is offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, who happens to be one of the best in the country. The four newcomers — LT Erik Swenson, LG Marquis Hayes, RG Tyrese Robinson, RT Adrian Early — lacked experience, but they did not lack in talent. All were highly rated recruiting prospects, so the expectation was that as the season progressed the new group would continue to get better. All but Swenson are redshirt sophomores. Swenson is a redshirt junior.
The consensus after three games is the offensive line is playing well, but still has a lot of area for improvement. The fact of the matter is the offense wouldn’t be putting up the video-game like numbers it has in the first three games if the offensive line was doing a lot of things right.
Offense has put the pedal down early and often
The Sooners have not allowed an opponent to score in the first quarter and have outscored their three opponents by the combined score of 83-17 in the first two quarters. The average victory margin in OU’s first three game is 36 points (56-20).