Oklahoma Sooners offensive line puts together best performance of the season against Auburn
The Oklahoma Sooners' offensive line has been much-maligned this season, with some truly dreadful moments, particularly in Week 4 against Tennessee. Battling injuries and losing all five starters from last year, it's understandable that their offensive line would suffer. Ahead of their game against Tennessee, I wrote about how the starting unit had played strong […]
The Oklahoma Sooners' offensive line has been much-maligned this season, with some truly dreadful moments, particularly in Week 4 against Tennessee. Battling injuries and losing all five starters from last year, it's understandable that their offensive line would suffer.
Ahead of their game against Tennessee, I wrote about how the starting unit had played strong but was being dragged down by backups.
"Of the original five starting linemen who Oklahoma trotted out on the first drive of the game, that group has combined to allow just four pressures. While two of the five haven't played much, the remaining three have played strong so far. Jacob Sexton has given up just two pressures, while Febechi Nwaiawu and Michael Tarquin have just one each."
Against Tennessee, they had to reshuffle the line, moving Tarquin from left to right tackle, Sexton from left guard to left tackle, and inserting Heath Ozaeta. This proved to be disastrous, as the offensive line allowed 19(!) pressures against the Volunteers.
However, the team rebounded well against Auburn. They finally had their original starting five, thanks to Jake Taylor returning to man the right tackle spot. This let Tarquin return to left tackle and Sexton move back inside to left guard.
The Sooners immediately saw better results. The line held up well in pass protection and had their best non-Temple game running the ball. A week after allowing 19 pressures, the line responded by allowing just five against Auburn, who entered the week leading the SEC in pressures. Three of those five were from Taylor, who didn't look 100% but could still play.
Now the starting five are finally healthy and can actually start to build reps in together. Oklahoma gets a bye week this week to get healthier elsewhere and the line can take the week to rebuild their chemistry with each other after so many shuffling pieces.
It won't transform Oklahoma into a top-flight offense, but just being able to afford continuity up front moving forward would be a huge boon for this offense.
