Oklahoma football: Jeff Lebby wants offense to be fearless, physical, but not predictable

Media types are always talking about a team’s overall identity or what the offensive or defensive identity is. Anyone who has followed Oklahoma football games the past four weeks would be hard pressed to define the Sooners’ offensive identity, but offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby knows precisely what that identity is.

For three of the past five seasons, Oklahoma has led the Big 12 in rushing, averaging well over 200 yards per game. This season, the Sooners appear to be relying more on Dillon Gabriel and the passing game to do the heavy lifting in the offense. Is that by design, or is Lebby struggling to find the right combination and consistency in the run game?

Identity isn’t so much what you do, Lebby says, it’s more about how you do it. While it may look that the Sooner’s identity on offense is different from week to week, that’s because the game plan is situational and highly dependent on the team you are playing.

“Hopefully, when people watch us, they see us playing really fast and being fearless and having great physicality about the (offensive) unit,” Lebby said last week during his weekly press conference. “That’s who we want to be.”

The last thing you want to be on offense is predictable. That is not an identity that Lebby wants the Sooner offense to be associated with.

"“I think the biggest thing is what you’re getting on the other side of the football,” he said. “We want to be an offense that’s on the attack, that has great balance and is going to take what the defense gives us.“That, to us, is who we want to be every single Saturday.”"

Although Oklahoma has been able to run the ball in their first four games this season, it hasn’t been to the level that is up to the Sooners’ standard, and that has been a bit concerning given the talent and depth of the running back position this season. Their best performance this season was 220 rushing yards in the season opener against Arkansas State, and that was due in large part to the inferior level of the competition.

In the Sooners last two games, they have averaged just 111 rushing yards per game. There are still plenty of games to figure that out, but that issue tends to detract from the vision Lebby and his offensive coaches want and expect for the Sooners.

"“Putting guys in the position of success is our job (as coaches),” Lebby said. “Ultimately playing fast, being fearless in how we call it and having great physicality are the three things that, when people watch us, they see that.”"