What could help the OU offense? Will the defense carry the Sooners? Plus, red alert on Tulane
Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel says improvement is possible but not guaranteed.
Dear faithful readers, I try not to post multiple items in a single day — you’ve got busy lives, and I don’t want to inundate you — but sometimes, it happens. Lots of unexpected football drama right now with OU and OSU, so to get everything in this week, here’s a bonus post today. Hope you enjoy!
Alarm bells are sounding in Norman.
Maybe you're actually hearing them in your own head, too.
Oklahoma struggled mightily against Houston, a team that only a week ago we were talking about as lacking talent. The Sooners struggled to run the ball, throw the ball, move the ball, and the teams on the schedule are about to get much, much tougher, starting Saturday with Tulane.
Can the Sooners fix anything?
We'll talk about that and more with Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel next on The Jenni Carlson Show.
Sign up for my YouTube channel here: YouTube.com/@Jenni-Carlson
Episode highlights
1:10: When did the alarm bells start in Berry’s head Saturday night?
3:24: Could the timing be any worse for a Sooner swoon? The SEC looms.
5:24: The defense carrying the offense: why does this seem much more difficult for Sooners everywhere to stomach?
7:19: Is the offense struggling because of one main problem or is it death by a thousand paper cuts?
9:36: What can the offense realistically fix?
11:51: What Berry would do if he was Brent Venables this week? (Spoiler: there’s a helicopter involved!)
14:24: Level of concern about Tulane?
16:00: OU-Tulane predictions! (Must listen, Sooner fans.)
Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Transcript
Jenni: BT, Saturday night, you're in Norman watching the Sooners and the Cougars. When did the alarm start sounding in your head on Saturday night?
Berry: Hmm, now that's a good question. I don't know that there was a, drop-me-in-the-frying-pan moment. I think I started in a nice clean, cool pan, and they just kept turning up the heat a little bit and pretty soon I realized, ‘Hey, this game getting cooked.’ They just couldn't score. OU scored, I think there were three minutes into the second quarter. No, no. Late to middle of the second quarter’s when OU scored its second touchdown. Get up to 14 and you thought, ‘Well, the dam will burst.’ Dam never burst.
OU’s defense outscored its offense 2-0 in the second half. And the offense just couldn't get anything done. And at some point that's what I kept thinking, and maybe this is the wrong thing, but I kept thinking not about they could lose to Houston. I kept thinking, ‘They’ve got to play Tennessee.’ On my iPad, I had Tennessee-North Carolina State. And on my laptop, I was watching Alabama-South Florida, which was interesting because South Florida extended Bama. I kept thinking, ‘The teams they're about to play are way better than Houston, and this is a ball game here.’ So I wasn't really too worried about the Cougs winning. I was worried about the fallout of playing Ole Miss and Texas, for crying out loud.
Did Texas play Saturday? Anybody know how they looked? Anybody know how they looked for crying out loud?
Jenni: They looked beastly is how they looked. They're bludgeoning people, Berry.
Berry: You know, somebody from OU passed by a TV after the Tennessee-North Carolina State game. It's 51-10 against what some considered a pretty good NC State team. And this guy said, ‘Wonder if Josh Heupel would like to beat us 51-10.’
Jenni: No doubt.
Berry: I think the answer is yes. Playing like that against Tennessee will do that. So, yeah, the Sooners need a lot of improvement, and they need it fast.
Jenni: And speaking of timing, OU ranked 12th in your SEC power poll this week, which I think with what we've seen is totally legitimate, but the timing, Berry, obviously it starts this week with Tulane. We'll get to them in a minute, but if OU was heading into a Big 12 schedule, you'd still be alarmed, but this SEC schedule, this could be a train wreck for the Sooners.
Berry: Hey, we talked at some point. Don't know if it was you or on the radio or maybe something I wrote. Can't remember. But at some point we said, if this Oklahoma team was still in the Big 12, we'd pick them to win. Now if Texas was there too, probably not, but it'd be at the top of the Big 12. If you look at it now, you'd say, no, they wouldn't be at the top of the Big 12. This team couldn't go to Iowa and win. This team wouldn't have been able to beat Arkansas on Saturday. This team is not as good as Kansas State or Arizona or all kinds of teams. I mean, this is a mediocre Oklahoma team so far through two games.
Now that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. They can get better, but you know, I thought it was a tremendous step back from Week 1 to Week 2. And Week 1 wasn't great. They beat temple 51-3, but everybody knows that was just sort of a pedestrian game. Temple was terrible. Sooners should have dominated much more. Didn’t, and then played much worse against Houston. Houston was picked 15th in the Big 12. Now, prognosticators could be wrong, but Week 1 they lost to Nevada-Las Vegas 27-7 in Houston. The game was not as close as the score indicated. And then the Cougars come to Norman and play OU to 16-12. That's a five-alarm fire I would say in Norman.
Jenni: We'll talk about the offense in a second, but Berry, it strikes me that this is very much the opposite of what Oklahoma fans have become used to. This is a team with a great defense and a struggling offense. And for years, it's been the exact opposite. Great offense, sometimes historic offense, struggling defense. It somehow feels so much worse, though. That seems like that's the vibe. I don't know if I'm reading it right, but what's your sense of … how is this all playing for Sooners?
Berry: Well, it is strange because they've been praying for a defense like this. And although, you know, you go back to the Baker Mayfield teams, the Kyler Murray team in particular, the Jalen Hurts team, just a little bit of defense and maybe they could win a playoff game. Really solid defense, they maybe could win a national championship. Now they've got at least a really solid defense, maybe even better. And you know, they can't score more than 14 offensive points on Houston. Seven of them on a 10-yard drive after a muffed punt. So it's very disconcerting. It's very alarming.
The sec is not forgiving. The Big 12 wouldn't be. Nobody's forgiving. So it's going to be a very strange progression through this season. If the Oklahoma offense can't get it in gear and quick, and that's the problem. Tulane’s a pretty good team. Tennessee's a powerhouse. Then you go to Auburn. Maybe that works out. And then it's Texas in the Cotton Bowl. So this could go sideways or off the rails really quick.
Jenni: Well, let's talk about that offense. To borrow your into-the-frying-pan analogy from earlier, is this a situation where it's a big issue? It's a drop it in the frying pan and we know this is the biggest issue? Or is this a slow steady burn, death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts type of problem with the offense? Do you feel like it's many things or one big whammo for this offense?
Berry: It looks like a lot of problems. We know the offensive line is not producing. They're not performing. We know that Jackson Arnold, how much of the problem is his line? We don't know. Some, no doubt. He's also a redshirt freshmen. Might be great, but in Baker Mayfield’s second year in college, he was sitting out and in Kyler Murray's second year in college, he was sitting out. In Spencer Rattler’s second year of college, he was playing pretty well, became All-Big 12 quarterback. So you never know. But jury's out on Jackson Arnold. His receivers are all hurt. All summer we talked about deep, talented receivers. Now, no Jayden Gibson, now no Jalil Farooq.
Jenni: Nic Anderson's been out.
Berry: Nic Anderson has not played. It sounded like Andrel Anthony may not even get back all of a sudden. That's not deep and it's not talented and there's having to piecemeal it together.
And the strength of the team right now looks to be the running backs, and they can't run because they’re not getting any blocking. The offensive coordinator, love Seth Littrell, but he's basically unproven his first year. Lincoln Riley was a phenom when he was hired 10 years ago by Bob Stoops. Everybody knew Lincoln Riley was an up and comer. You'd have to say that Seth Littrell was, is unproven. Had zero doubts that he would do well. Thought he would do well, but you know, just way too many things need to come together for this offense to advance. And you’re limiting your chances of success when you need that many things to come through.
Jenni: So what realistically can be fixed? I mean, we're not in the era of college football just yet where you can make a trade mid-season. You can't go get new offensive linemen to fill holes. So what's realistic right now?
Berry: I don't know, but I think you've just stumbled upon a tremendous idea. Let's just have trades. Everybody is going to online classes anyway. Who cares? I mean, they can still go to school. They’re working on an OU degree, get traded to a Minnesota or somebody.
What can be fixed? I think they can come up with blocking schemes that enhance the run game. It's not all just getting overpowered. It's not all just being unable to beat the guy in front of you. Some of it, maybe a lot of it, is the kind of schemes you run, the kind of plays you run, the kind of game plans you produce. What can these guys do? Whether it's moving the pocket, whether it's changing your philosophy on the blocking. We've seen teams sort of shift in mid-season and find ways to get things done. We saw it in Stillwater last year where for three or four games, OSU couldn't do anything. And they said, ‘You know what, let's just treat Ollie Gordon like an I-formation tailback and quit messing around in the backfield.’ And they found ways to be successful. And I think, OU could do the same.
It's not going to be Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts offense. It's probably not going to be the Spencer Rattler offense. But you know, they've won Big 12 titles in years when the offense looked shaky early. Did it with Paul Thompson at quarterback in ’06. So it, you know, it can be done, but that doesn't mean it's automatically will be done.
Jenni: Put yourself in Brent Venables’ shoes this week.
Berry: OK, all right, I think I'll buy a lake house. I'm thinking about a helicopter. You know what would have helped us Saturday? I got to think about this, Jacko. If we could find a helicopter to get from Stillwater to Norman for the doubleheader, that would have been helpful.
Jenni: Your driving, though, was almost helicopter-esque. We were flying.
Berry: Yeah. Yeah. We found the right route. Hey, total aside, you fans that go to college football games, Norman, Stillwater. I've been going my whole life, but since I was 17 years old, 1970, 18 years old, 1979, when the game's over, I'm not leaving for a couple hours, sometimes five hours. Traffic's gone. You people that have to leave the stadium when the game's over, I salute you. I salute you.
Jenni: Yeah, it's a mess. It's a mess we don't normally find ourselves in, but we were on Saturday. Woof.
All right, back to Brent Venables. After you buy the lake house and get the helicopter, with your team, is there one thing you absolutely do this week and maybe one thing you absolutely don't do as the head coach at Oklahoma?
Berry: Well, I'm not panicking at quarterback. A lot of people talking about Michael Hawkins coming in. Are they trying to get the guys back broke? Is that what we're trying to do? So I wouldn't do that. I'd try to move the pocket. Jackson Arnold's a pretty mobile guy. I would like to see more movement. I'd like to see fewer running plays from Jackson Arnold and more run around passing plays from Jackson Arnold. You know, try to win with his feet but not his shoulder, if you know what I mean. So that's one thing.
I would look at more two-back sets. Been a little bit of that. And I like what I see. Of course, I like that formation anytime. So that's a couple of things.
They need to fortify the kicking game as well. The defense playing great. Offense playing terrible. And the special teams were a little bit of a zoo on Saturday night. Two punt returns were just a fiasco. So if you're a team like Oklahoma, you got to try to pick up some advantages on the special teams. Doug Deakin, the new special teams coordinator, Game 1 was pretty promising. Game 2 was a disaster that needs to be fixed.
Jenni: Definitely so. Well, we know the alarms are sounding with Oklahoma. So how much of concern is Tulane? And how much has that changed not only because of Oklahoma but because of what we saw at a Tulane last Saturday nearly beating Kansas State?
Berry: Well, Tulane is an interesting program. Lost their four-year starting quarterback, Michael Pratt. Sooners saw him when he was a sophomore in ’21. Came here and almost upset the Sooners, a 40-35 game. Remember Michael Pratt ran all over the field, played great. And then Willie Fritz, a wonderful coach. If you don't know who Willie Fritz is, he's the guy on the Houston sideline now who with a decrepit roster stayed within four points of the Sooners. So heck of a coach. Built a really good program at Tulane. Sometimes when you lose a quarterback and a head coach like that, and you're a mid-major, the whole thing falls apart. It has not at Tulane.
They hired a really good coach in Jon Sumrall, late of Troy. Won the Sun Belt at Troy. They've retained a lot of their players. They've got a good NIL program. So for a mid-major down in New Orleans, they got some boosters. They were able to keep a lot of their good players. They got a really nice team. Had Kansas State on the ropes the whole game in New Orleans. Could have, should have, would have won. Lost 34-27.
This will be a real test. This is not a game that the Sooners can think, ‘Well, we can work on some things.’ They need to work on having more points than Tulane at the end of the game. So this is a scary one for Oklahoma.
Jenni: Let’s go predictions. I'm going Oklahoma, but I'm saying 20-17. Berry, what you got?
Berry: Jacko, you know me. What do I need every week?
Jenni: An upset special.
Berry: I need an upset special. I went with Tulane in the SEC upset special. I mean, I've watched both. I've watched the Sooners twice, Tulane once. One of these teams looks like the better team. So I went Tulane in the upset.