Many fans wondered what would change from Oklahoma’s offense when the Sooners fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and named co-offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley the play-caller.
So far the biggest difference has been the Sooners’ ability to run the ball. Oklahoma hadn’t been able to get much of a spark in the run game in the first half of the season, forcing their two young quarterbacks to shoulder the load and make all of the plays on their own.
In their last two games though, Oklahoma was able to turn that around and lean on their ground game to much better results.
The Sooners posted 208 sack-adjusted rushing yards on Ole Miss’s top-ranked rushing defense in Week 9. Last week against Maine, they had their first 100-yard rusher of the season in Jovantae Barnes, who ran for 203 on 18 carries.
In their last two games, Oklahoma has rushed for 589 yards on 102 carries, averaging 5.77 yards per carry. That figure would be ninth in the country if applied season-long.
What’s interesting to me is that the scheme hasn’t changed much. One of the biggest changes is a stark increase in the overall percentage of zone runs, particularly inside zone (33.6 to 47.9%). Oklahoma has pretty much thrown out outside zone away from the playbook and has turned more to counter runs.
It’s worked, as Oklahoma’s success rate ticked up by a significant margin on the ground.
What has changed are the spots Oklahoma has run the ball at. Against Ole Miss, just one of their successful drives started with a running back run. That number shifted some against Maine with Oklahoma wanting to keep it simple and play with a lead, but they only had two successful drives in the first half starting with a running back carry.
There’s an obvious caveat for the level of competition, particularly against Maine, but they boasted the same total missed tackles forced against Maine and Ole Miss with six in each game.
This bodes well for the Sooners if they can keep it up. In a must-win game against Missouri, they’ll need that kind of offensive balance to put the Tigers away and clinch a bowl game berth.
In SEC play, Missouri is allowing 190.7 rushing yards per game and 5.3 yards per attempt. In two of their four SEC games, Missouri has allowed more than 200 yards rushing, including a season-high 271 in the team’s last game against Alabama.
The Sooners are missing two of their starting offensive linemen this week but they’ve still been able to churn out yards on the ground well without them the past two weeks.
They’ll be counting on a resurgent rushing attack to help take them to a win this week against Missouri and beyond as they close out SEC play.