NORMAN — Friday's opener couldn't have started much better for Oklahoma's offense.
The big, explosive plays were flowing early for Jackson Arnold and company against Temple. The true sophomore quarterback found Jalil Farooq for a 47-yard connection on the Sooners' second play of the game, and that led to a 14-yard touchdown from Arnold to Bauer Sharp five plays later. On the next possession, Arnold found Deion Burks for a 14-yard touchdown to cap off a five-play drive.
The Sooners' first two drives turned into 14 points on 14 plays in just over four minutes. It was that hot start that helped the Sooners take control early, propelling them to a 51-3 win over the Owls in their season opener at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
However, the offense never quite sustained that fast start. The offense did plenty enough to win the game, but there were certainly some ups and downs.
“Our offense, they scored six of our first eight drives," Venables said. "... (But we) had a few issues getting into a good rhythm at times on offense."
The offense didn't find their footing to the same degree after those first two drives. On the next possession, they went three and out and didn't gain a positive yard. They went three and out on the next drive, too, but still came away with a 50-yard field goal from Tyler Keltner after a defensive takeaway set them up with a short field.
After totaling 119 yards on their first two drives, the Sooners totaled just 103 on their final six possessions of the first half. Still, they went into halftime with a 34-0 lead, leaving little doubt on the outcome.
A big reason was the defense, which forced four turnovers that put the OU offense in short-field situations. The biggest example came at the end of the first half, when a forced fumble by Gracen Halton set the Sooners up inside the Temple six-yard line. Two plays later, Arnold found Burks for a five-yard touchdown for the final score of the half. Of the Sooners 34 points, 20 of them came off turnovers.
It was more of the same in the second half. The Sooners went three and out on three of their first four drives after halftime, gaining just 67 yards while scoring three points. OU had just 293 yards of offense before the final drive — their lowest output in a game last season was 365 — before an eight-yard touchdown from Taylor Tatum capped off a nine-play drive that gave the Sooners 378 yards for the game.
The game-plan was admittedly vanilla, Venables said, with the Sooners rarely ripping off chunk plays. The Sooners had just four plays of more than 15 yards, with only one of those coming through the air. But it was still surprising to see the offense looked out of sync at times.
"We did a lot of good things, but we have a lot to clean up," OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell said. "We got out of rhythm late in the first half and really in the second half, got out of rhythm. Had some inopportune penalties that put us behind the chains. Had some drops that were really kind of hurtful. Didn’t get back into rhythm, at times. Overall, it was exciting how we started. We just have to make sure we maintain that same energy the first couple of drives the entire game."
There were a few things working against the Sooners, particularly on the offensive line. Jake Taylor — a presumed starter at tackle — suited up but didn't play out of caution from the coaching staff, and starting center Branson Hickman left the game early with an ankle sprain and didn't return. The patchwork offensive line surrendered three sacks and also committed two penalties.
Farooq left the game after that early explosive play and didn't return, and Venables confirmed after the game that he suffered a broken foot. The Sooners were also without wideout Nic Anderson, who was ruled out earlier in the week. That led to OU leaning on players further down the depth chart, as evidenced by the four drops the Sooners committed.
But the most glaring issue was on third down. The Sooners converted just one of 12 third-down attempts, with their only conversion coming on Tatum's touchdown with just over three minutes to go.
But just like there were some issues, the offense executed well enough to win and had some positive moments in the process. Arnold was solid to open his true sophomore season, tossing four touchdowns without committing a turnover. Three of those scores went to Burks, who led the team with six catches for 36 yards while becoming just the fifth OU receiver to score three times in a half. The coaching staff was also able to empty the sidelines — over 40 players logged an offensive snap — and Jovantae Barnes and Tatum showed explosiveness in the running game.
"We got pretty vanilla," Littrell said. "Once our drives started stalling at times, we didn't get back in rhythm. Some of that, obviously, we're not going to show everything game one but at the same time, I felt like we needed to be a little bit more explosive in the passing game. Again, some of that is the calls and some of that is the execution of the calls. That's definitely an area that we must improve on and something that I truly believe in.
"... We have to be an explosive offense. That's something I believe in, but at the same time, I thought we were efficient in what we did tonight."
The offense largely did what it needed to do to open the season, posting 51 points while capitalizing on plays from the defense. And most importantly, they now have a better idea on how to improve.
"Take what the defense gives you," Arnold said. "And to be fair, with the field position we had tonight, we (had) turnovers in the plus-30. There's not gonna be very many shots to be taken.
"But I trust Coach Littrell on his play calling, and if it wasn't time to take a shot, then it wasn't time. We had the false start we hit a big (play) on. Just didn't happen tonight. And who cares? We won 51-3."
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