Oklahoma limits Houston to 58 rushing yards, but Sooners' numbers aren't much better
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma's 51 points in the season-opening win over Temple was deceptive in that it belied the Sooners' issues in generating any offensive consistency. Those same issues reared their ugly head in Week 2 against Houston, and now it has become a troubling trend as OU gets deeper into a schedule loaded with quality opponents.
The Sooners are at a serious crossroads in their 2024 season. They are one nonconference opponent -- and a dangerous one in Tulane that a number of college football experts in preseason viewed as a trap game for OU -- away from beginning a killer SEC schedule considered to be one of the most difficult in college football this season.
The once explosive and high-scoring Oklahoma offense is sputtering and spinning its wheels in the mud with no clear remedy in sight. Brent Venables and Co. better come up with some answers quickly or a once promising third season under the head coach is liable to run off the rails.
Here are some of the numbers from the Houston game that spell trouble looking ahead to the schedule:
2 -- You have to go all the way back to 1937 to the last time the Sooners scored only two points in the second half of a game as on Saturday versus Houston.
4 for 14 -- Oklahoma converted four of 14 third-downs in the game with Houston. Through two games, the Sooners are 5 of 16 in third-down conversions, a success percentage of 19.2 percent. In case you were wondering, that ranks 131st out of 133 FBS teams this season.
6 -- Six different OU pass receivers caught at least one pass in the Houston game, led by Purdue transfer Deion Burks, who caught nine of 12 targets and nine of the 19 completions thrown by Jackson Arnold.
6 -- Jackson Arnold has been sacked six times in the Sooners' two games, indicative of the problems Oklahoma is having on the offensive line. OU's 3.0 sacks-allowed average per game is tied for 109th among FBS teams.
8 -- Oklahoma punted eight times in 12 offensive possessions against Houston. The Sooners averaged just three punts a game all of last season.
16.0 -- The Sooners are an early 16.0-point favorite over this week's opponent Tulane. That line seems a bit high, given how OU performed against Houston. But that number probably would have been much higher before the Houston game.
75 -- The Sooners rushed for just 75 yards against Houston, one week after gaining 220 yards on the ground the previous week.
332 - Oklahoma's passing yardage (174 and 158) in the first two games this season. That was a single-game total in many games the last eight or nine seasons.