Oklahoma cannot run the football -- that's a brutal, unequivocal fact -- and the Sooners have shown no evidence, now six games into the 2025 season, that this is a problem that can be resolved this season.
Funny how things sometimes turn out; not everything is as it first seems. The Oklahoma running back room in the months and weeks leading up to this season was believed to be one of the deepest and strongest position groups on the 2025 team. Now, it has to be classified as a definite liability, and at the point in the season when the Sooners need the production the most out of that group.
Jaydn Ott, the highly regarded transfer from California, was supposed to come in and become the productive lead back the Sooners had been missing the last few years. But No. 0 has been a zero for Oklahoma so far, a giant swing and miss for the Sooners from the Transfer Portal. In five games this season, Ott has gained 68 yards on 21 carries, a far cry from his Pac-12 leading 1,315 rushing yards at Cal in 2023. His longest run this season has been 12 yards.
If you are unable to run the ball in college football, your chances for success are severely limited. And that appears to be the major flaw in offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle's new Oklahoma offense. It's a new system with a new OC, but with the same executional issue.
What is the real root of Oklahoma's problem not being able to run the ball?
So what is the root of the problem? Is it poor evaluation in the recruiting process, a skill and ability or a developmental issue? Perhaps a concern lies with running backs coach DeMarco Murray. All of these things could have some bearing on the absence of an effective run game, but they are magnified by a problematic offensive line.
Remember when Oklahoma was one of the most potent rushing teams in college football -- just think of the team's legendary Wishbone era -- and it wasn't all that long ago that the Sooner offense was the country's most prolific.
All that was because of Oklahoma's ability to run the ball with high proficiency and produce explosive plays off of it. And all behind outstanding offensive line play. Heck, in 2018, the Sooners won the Joe Moore Award for the best offensive line in college football.
For the past couple of seasons, the Sooners' rushing offense has been on hiatus with little or no ability to advance the ball on the ground.
Last season, Oklahoma ranked 76th among FBS teams, averaging 155 rushing yards per game, and even fewer when going up against stout SEC defenses. Everyone was quick to lay the blame on the erratic and injury-prone offensive line, one of the worst in the 12 seasons that Bill Bedenbaugh has been OU's offensive line coach.
Through six games this season, the Sooners are averaging 122.3 rushing yards per game. Against SEC teams, however, that figure drops to a pitiful 40 yards per game and 1.4 yards per carry. That is not a sustainable statistic for any degree of success in a league top-heavy in line of scrimmage size, strength and executional dominance.
Oklahoma's offensive line performance in 2024 was a nightmare scenario. Having to replace four of five starters before last season resulted in the Sooners turning heavily to the Transfer Portal. Chemistry and communication are the two most important things for an offensive line, and with so many new faces on OU's O-line in 2024, it presented issues right from the start. When you add a mounting list of injuries that plagued offensive line continuity and rotations throughout the season, it was easy to see why O-line play was so troublesome and disappointing a year ago.
Things were projected to be much better in 2025 with all the starters returning, plus the addition of tackle Derek Simmons from Western Carolina, and highly rated freshmen Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fodje. That created experience and depth the Sooners lacked the year before.
Once again, however, the OU offensive line has been beset with injuries. That unfortunately has led to problems protecting the quarterback, as well as the inability to run block and get enough forward push to open up running lanes, the two most fundamental functions of the offensive line.
Returning starting center Troy Everett is out for the season with an injury and returning starting tackle Jacob Sexton was injured in the opening game and has not returned to action. Fasusi, who started the season at left tackle, has missed a couple of games, and Simmons has been banged up.
Oklahoma already has allowed 13 sacks and 38 tackles for loss this season, which rank 87th and 106th, respectively, among FBS teams. The Sooners also rank 106th nationally in rushing overall and 13th out of 16 SEC teams.
Assuming that there will be no dramatic improvement up front in the offense in the near term, and potentially for the remainder of the season, Arbuckle is going to have to come up with some different creative ways to advance the ball on the ground and avoid becoming too one-dimensional and predictable on offense. Otherwise, the Sooners' difficult finishing schedule is probably going to take its toll on OU's offensive performance and result in another disappointing season, along with some difficult coaching decisions at year's end.