In a game that was noted as one of the best non-conference games of 2016, ended in a completely dominating performance by Ohio St. The Sooners were looking to get back in the College Football Playoff discussion with a victory. However, now must pick up the pieces and re-evaluate their goals. Oklahoma looked like a team with inefficiencies on both sides of the ball . The Buckeyes looked like a team that was championship caliber in week three.
Oklahoma Sooners dominated by Ohio State Buckeyes
Buckeyes expose gaps on Sooner defense
Ohio St ran 34 plays for 267 yards and averaged nearly eight yards per play in the first half.
Defensively, the Sooners were just not able to make plays winning plays on defense. The defensive line was not able to generate pressure which allowed J.T. Barrett time to survey the field. The linebacker corps were largely absent and unable to consistently make plays. Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel both averaged over six yards per carry.
Maybe the biggest question mark coming into this game for Oklahoma on defense was the secondary. The cornerback spot opposite Jordan Thomas has been a struggle. That question mark turned into an exclamation point very quickly in a negative fashion as Noah Brown had 5 catches for 72 yards with four of those going for scores.
Baker Mayfield is trying to make too many big plays
Coming into this game Baker Mayfield had completed over 70% of his passes against Houston and Louisiana Monroe. The signal caller has been criticized for forcing the big play. The theme continued this week as he threw two more interceptions including a pick six which turned momentum in Ohio St’s favor early in the first half.
With the Sooners down by 25 points early in the second half, there was a clear need for Baker to try to make the big play. Oklahoma was able to cut the lead to 18 and gain possession of the football back but was unable to sustain a drive.
Bob Stoops was quoted after the game speaking to Mayfield’s performance. “Obviously, it wasn’t near good enough. He had his moments,he had some nice plays, but overall, the interceptions and a few of the third and fourth downs that we might have had a chance at something. We didn’t execute very well there either, and those are like turnovers. Not near good enough.”
Oklahoma was able to drive the ball against the Buckeye defense, but was unable to sustain those drives. Thus, drive killers were present from taking sacks, blown assignments on the offensive line or just QB pressure.
When you look at the offensive production, Oklahoma amassed 403 yards of total offense. The trend of mistakes and inability to complete drives was the eventual downfall for the Sooners.
Talent and Leadership
One thing that jumped out was the talent mismatch between the two teams. First, Oklahoma is obviously not devoid of talent but it’s fair to say the Sooners are not as talented as thought coming in to the season.
Bob Stoops on the talent not being as good as advertised, “I think in some ways, yes. Oddly enough, I still feel we’ve got the ability to play better than we have.”.
Oklahoma knew that it had key areas of leadership to replace with losing players like Sterling Shepherd, Eric Striker and Zach Sanchez. Different from 2016, Leadership has become a concern after 3 games. Stoops was asked about what that lack of leadership looks like on the field. “It looks like what you saw tonight. Just for the record, it isn’t on our leadership. It’s because of me. I haven’t done a good enough job coaching, period. Leadership is, to me, it shows up on the field because of what you’ve done all week, all month, all summer, and in the attitude in the locker room, all of that, together. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it’s not what it was a year ago. Hopefully, we can improve on it.”
Sooners have perfect time for Bye Week
In a season where Oklahoma was a college football playoff contender the goals must be re-evaluated. The Sooners now face the reality of no playoff opportunity.
Oklahoma can breathe a little easier knowing that they are still 0-0 in the Big 12 conference. Because of that, the Sooners still have the opportunity in front of them to win the conference and make a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Oklahoma will quickly need to get healthy and get back to basics to deliver a conference championship. But, the next two games will not get any easier.
The next matchup for the Sooners will be on the road to take on the TCU Horned Frogs. Oklahoma beat TCU at home last year 30-29 in Norman.
Main Photo:
