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Dave: Injuries abound, time to get creative

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Houston…. we have several problems.

Oklahoma came dangerously close to being the second big upset of the day when they escaped the Cougars 16-12 last Saturday night at Owen Field.

Venables made the comment at his press conference that it was probably not a good thing that he was bragging on his punter who had to take the field eight times.

But the punter and the defense won the game for the Sooners that night as the offense was a no show. And of course, that is extremely concerning.

Being a 28-point favorite and only posting 14 points, the other two points provided by the defense by way of a safety, against a bad Houston team is not good.

Some over all offensive stats after 2 games are startling: 109th nationally in passing offense, 108th nationally in total offense, and 131st in 3rd down conversion percentage, against less than stellar competition. Sounds suspiciously like rankings the Sooners defense had when “he who must not be named” was at the helm.

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Sooners saved by big time defense, despite serious offensive woes

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A stellar defense overcame an anemic offense to enable the Oklahoma Sooners to survive a 16-12 nail biter over the Houston Cougars in a contest that had the 83,653 faithful in Norman ever more fearful of the murderer’s row schedule that lay ahead in the SEC.

It was the lowest point total for Oklahoma since its 17-10 loss to TCU in 2005.

As the giant Oklahoma flag became tangled up when pulled across the Owen Field turf during the pre-game show, we should have known this was an omen of a bad night coming.

The offense under newbie QB Jackson Arnold (19 of 32 for 174 yards, 1 interception and 2 touchdowns) struggled, losing the total yardage statistic to the Cougars (249 yards versus UH’s 318), converting only four of 14 third down conversions and punting an uncharacteristic eight times.

Dropped passes, overthrown balls, ineffective run blocking and inopportune penalties (including an unsportsmanlike penalty on a lineman that kept the Sooners from almost running out the clock to end the game) was the story of the night for the offense.

Defensively, the Sooners had a fourth quarter interception (by Robert Spears-Jennings) and a safety (by defensive tackle Gracen Halton, with 1:42 left in the game), which gave fans their only chance to take a breath. Unfortunately, the offense failed to capitalize on those opportunities (Tyler Keltner missing a 45-yard field goal) and allowed Houston a fighting chance to be a mere field goal away from winning the game in the waning minutes.

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Dave: Injuries raise questions about O-line play but defense is dominating

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One would think a 51-3 drubbing would not be cause for any source of worry about the victorious team, no matter who the opponent. 

But a big concern for Oklahoma going into the season reared its ugly head last Friday night on Owen Field.  While the Sooners did indeed dismantle Temple to the tune of 51-3, the offensive line left more questions than answers. 

To be fair, Oklahoma was missing starting tackle Jake Taylor due to injury, and starting center Branson Hickman left with injury after just 10 snaps.  Depth was also an issue as guard Troy Everett was a no go with injury as well. 

So maybe we should not expect many answers until this unit heals and is able to work together at full strength.  But injuries are part of the game.  Next man up so to speak. 

So, it was disappointing to see the offensive line look so inconsistent.  I know that might sound overly critical when OU still rushed for 220 yards and averaged 6.1 yards a carry.  But the Sooners were also 1 for 12 on 3rd down conversion attempts, they lost the time of possession battle, and Arnold only threw for 140 yards and was sacked 3 times.  

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