NORMAN — The Sooners' offense hit new lows in Saturday's 25-15 loss to Tennessee. Jackson Arnold's turnover issues were the primary story, but the struggles on the offensive line were fully on display for the fourth consecutive week.

The Sooners finished with just 222 total yards — their second-lowest output in a game since 2007 — and the running game again never found a rhythm, finishing with 36 yards on 34 carries. The offensive line allowed 18 pressures (the third most among FBS teams), 14 quarterback hurries and three sacks as the Sooners mustered just 3.3 yards per play.

While Michael Hawkins brought some semblance of rhythm in the second half, the offensive line again faces questions following the first week of SEC play. OU coach Brent Venables hinted at his frustrations with the offensive line after the game.

"I'm tired of watching the same thing," Venables said. "So just go back. I'd rather everybody be wrong and be on the same page than just one guy doing this and one guy doing that. You can't play good football when you are doing that."

There's been a lot of factors in the struggles up front. Cohesiveness has been an issue as injuries have taken a toll, and presumed starting tackle Jake Taylor again didn't play last night. But center Branson Hickman returned after a three-game absence, injecting some optimism that the Sooners offensive line could hold up against Tennessee's elite front seven.

Instead, it was more of the same.

Bill Bedenbaugh didn't mess around last night with rotations. Hickman, Febechi Nwaiwu, Michael Tarquin, Heath Ozaeta and Jacob Sexton played all 73 offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus, as the Sooners hoped to establish some chemistry. But that group struggled — the offensive line had a pass blocking grade of 43.8 and a run-blocking grade of 41.1, both marks ranking in the bottom five among FBS teams.

Ozaeta, who entered the season as a backup, received the highest overall grade (55.0), highest pass-block grade (69.2) and highest run-block grade (54.0). No one else on the offensive line finished with an overall grade higher than 52.3.

As a result, the Vols had no issue getting penetration. The Sooners gave up 11 tackles for loss and three sacks, and the Sooners generated a grand total of -20 yards of offense in the second quarter. Even after Hawkins led the Sooners on two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. the damage from the early struggles was too much to overcome.

It was the same issues for the offensive line that they showed through the first three weeks, and they simply didn't pass the test in their SEC opener. On the season, the Sooners rank 101st in rushing offense (128.2 yards per game), tied for 116th in sacks allowed (12) and tied for 114th in tackles for loss allowed (28).

“It’s very frustrating. Just some bad football,” Venables said. “Some guys getting whooped and beat and not winning their matchups. Don’t like that at all.”

Even with the same unit logging all the snaps on Saturday, it's been difficult for the Sooners to find a rhythm.

"It's difficult but I honestly think that we're blessed with talent at every position," Nwaiwu said. "We have people that can come in whenever people go down. A lot of teams have depth problems whenever it comes to that and I think that this team has a lot of really good athletes, especially at offensive line, that are able to get the job done. And it is a little tough whenever the person next to you that you've been kind of getting used to goes down but I think that we're all so close that its an easier transition than it might seem."

Things aren't going to get much easier for the Sooners. They're a 2.5-point favorite next week at Auburn, but they'll face ferocious defensive lines in the following weeks against Texas, Ole Miss and Alabama. The Sooners (3-1, 0-1 SEC) likely can't count on a substantial improvement, but there has to be incremental growth if they hope to remain competitive in the SEC. There could be hope that a change at quarterback with Hawkins, who is a true dual-threat player, could make things easier on the offensive line.

Either way, the Sooners know it has to get better.

"It kind of goes back to getting different guys in there but it's also putting in more time together," Nwaiwu said. "We all -- this is our first time really playing together in game scenarios. And it's improving for sure every game, but it's just, hey, what can we do to help that process even faster? What can we do today to help us tomorrow, you know what I mean? It's just steady improvement every day, the grind every day.

"And that's what I love about our offensive line is that we try to grind every day, we try to improve every day regardless of outcome."

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