Oklahoma football: O-line, a Sooner strength, about to get stronger
By Chip Rouse
A football offense is generally only as good as its offensive line, and that has been the formula for the Oklahoma football success in recent seasons.
The “big uglies” up front in the trenches, as former NFL head coach and TV analyst John Madden likes to refer to them, are the one who create the initial forward push, create the running lanes and protect the quarterback so he has time to find open receivers and execute pass plays.
Two years ago, the Oklahoma offensive line won the Joe Moore Award as the best in college football. Four members of that stout O-line were selected in the first four rounds of the 2019 NFL draft.
Last season, the Sooners returned only one player, center Creed Humphrey, from that elite group of offensive linemen, breaking in four new starters. The rebuilt — or some might even say “reloaded” — offensive line struggled a little early last season but progressed nicely as the season wore on and by the time the conference championship and postseason play rolled around was playing together at a fairly high level.
A lot of the credit for that rapid growth goes to offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, who is recognized all across college football as one the best in the business and has recruited well enough to bring in top talent to OU and build depth at that important but sometimes undervalued position.
For all of these reasons, there for strong expectations for the offensive line, anchored by consensus preseason All-American selection Humphrey, coming into the 2020 season.
The Sooner O-line looked good in the season-opening win over Missouri State, but you would expect that to be the games when a ranked FBS team takes on an opponent that competes in an NCAA division a level below Oklahoma.
In the back-to-back losses to Kansas State and Iowa State the OU offensive line did not play well, as evidenced by dramatically lower rushing numbers and quarterback sacks, pressures and tackles for loss. In addition, the offensive line has been guilty of multiple costly penalty calls that have negated big offensive plays.
The offensive line is the engine that makes the Oklahoma football offense go.
All of these are factors that short-circuit the Sooners’ offensive continuity and consistency and disrupt the effectiveness and efficiency of the offense.
The Sooner offensive line played much better in the Texas game. Oklahoma doubled its per-game rushing total, enabling 208 rushing yards and a season-high 3.8 yards per. That’s still not as good as the past two seasons, but the best so far this fall. The Sooners scored four rushing touchdowns, which is largely the credit of the O-line. There also were fewer holding calls and illegal-motion penalties called of members of the offensive line.
The end result was a hard-fought victory in what is always the biggest game of the year for both teams. The question now is, can Oklahoma sustain that momentum and build on it going forward for the rest of the season.
The play of the offensive line will be a key factor in how that story plays out, and that position group is about to get a valuable boost with the addition of UCLA transfer Chris Murray, who has been declared eligible to play immediately by the NCAA, Head coach Lincoln Riley, confirmed the news in a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday, including Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World.
"“He (Murray) is eligible and, you know, based on the length of time…it comes at a good time,” Riley said.“We’ve got bye week, a chance to get him up to speed, but he’s certainly a guy that, based on what we’ve seen, I believe will have a chance to contribute for us this year.”"
A junior in class standing, Murray will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Listed at 6-feet, 3 inches and 297 pounds, he made 24 starts for UCLA, including all 12 games a year ago at guard. He was part of a UCLA offensive line that contributed to five straight 200-yard rushing performances by Bruin running backs.
The addition of Murray should be a valuable reinforcement for an Oklahoma offensive line that needs to play better together, and more consistently, if the Sooners are going to stay in the championship hunt and be able to defend their Big 12 crown.