You can sum up most of Oklahoma's offensive struggles last season in three words: Lack of experience.
Injuries decimated the Sooners' wide receiver group and also impacted the starting offensive line, forcing backups to step into key offensive roles. Even once prominently heralded quarterback recruit Jackson Arnold struggled mightily in the starting role as a sophomore.
Speaking offensively, Oklahoma should be much better off in terms of the experience factor in 2025. The Sooners not only have added experience, but also high production value at both quarterback and running back, bringing in former Washington State quarterback John Mateer and former California running back Jaydn Ott from the transfer portal. Several national experts have rated Mateer as one of the best transfer pickups nationally at any position. Ott battled injuries last season, but his 1,315 rushing yards in 2023 were ninth-most in the country.
Sooners added experience to 2025 offense
OU was already deep at running back and will have a healthy Jovantae Barnes, Xavier Robinson and Taylor Tatum back for another season.
As for the wide receiver group, former Purdue transfer Deion Burks, who led OU in receiving before he missed practically the entire second half of last season with injuries, returns in 2025, and the Sooners are optimistic that Jayden Gibson will be back after missing all of last season.
To that, the team has added several wide receiver transfers in Javonnie Gibson from Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Isaiah Sategna from Arkansas and Keontez Lewis from Southern Illinois who bring experience and talent to the position.
The Oklahoma offensive line group gave up 50 sacks last season, tied for most in the country. That can't and shouldn't happen in the coming season because almost everyone is back from a relatively inexperienced group that was literally baptized under fire last season.
The experience alone the group gained in starting roles a year ago while playing a tough SEC schedule should contribute to their upside this season. Plus, the Sooners will have five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi to add to the mix and Western Carolina transfer Derek Simmons. Experience won't be an issue, and certainly not an excuse, on the O-line in 2025.
Oklahoma, which historically has been known for explosive, high-powered offenses that can put up points fast and with considerable frequency, hit near rock bottom last season, finishing 113th out of 135 FBS teams in total offense.
The Sooners averaged 331 yards of offense per game in the 2024 season. We're talking about a team that not that many years ago in 2018 led the country averaging 570 yards of total offense, and the year after that was still well over 500 yards per game, third-best in the nation. It doesn't take a mathematician to realize that is a dramatic drop-off in production.
On the defensive side, which finished among the top-20 teams at the FBS level a year ago in total defense, the Sooners lost their two best defensive players in linebacker Danny Stutsman and safety Billy Bowman Jr., but they return almost 80% of their defensive production, according to the ESPN analytics group. That ranks eighth nationally among teams that compete at the FBS level.
Experience clearly isn't the only factor that contributes to success on the football field, but it is indeed a factor and one not to be ignored.
History does show that teams that recruit well, develop and retain their talent -- which has become an issue of epidemic proportions in the new era of NIL, revenue-sharing and college free-agency -- are the one that put themselves in position to regularly compete for championships.
Read more about OU football