NORMAN — The cracks were evident from the jump.
Even in a 51-3 rout of Temple to begin the season, OU’s offense lacked juice.
On the second Sooners’ drive of the game, wide receiver Deion Burks took a handoff on a jet sweep.
After the play, OU starting center Branson Hickman stayed down, grasping at his right leg.
There were plenty of reasons for the Sooners’ disappointing season — injuries at wide receiver that racked the depth there, quarterback issues and an underperforming running game among them — but the offensive line issue was at the forefront.
In that opener, though OU scored five offensive touchdowns, it had just 378 total yards —158 through the air.
It was a sign the Sooners’ offense could be in trouble offensively.
OU’s defense was better than solid. It ranked 21st nationally in total defense, allowing 318.2 yards per game, and 34th in scoring defense, allowing just 21.58 points per game.
The Sooners limped to a 6-6 regular season and needed an improbable 24-3 blowout win over Alabama late in the season just to reach bowl eligibility.
But as the Sooners prepare to try to avoid a second sub-.500 finish in three seasons when they take on Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27 (11 a.m., ESPN), here’s a look at what went wrong for OU this season.
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The offensive line
There were plenty of questions about Bill Bedenbaugh’s group heading into the season.
OU lost starters Tyler Guyton, McKade Mettauer, Andrew Raym and Walter Rouse to the NFL while Cayden Green and Savion Byrd left via transfer.
Of the 65 combined starts on the offensive line last season, only eight returned this season — four each by Troy Everett and Jacob Sexton.
The Sooners rebuilt their offensive line by bringing in a large group of experienced linemen through the transfer portal.
Hickman came from SMU, Spencer Brown from Michigan State, Geirean Hatchett from Washington, Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas and Michael Tarquin from USC.
The Sooners wound up rolling out eight different combinations of offensive line starters in their first nine games before settling on a group that included Troy Everett, Nwaiwu, Brown and redshirt freshmen Logan Howland and Heath Ozaeta.
Hatchett started the opener at left guard but was forced to center after Hickman’s early injury. Tarquin, Sexton and Jake Taylor were all in and out of the lineup due to injuries while Everett wasn’t available until October after suffering a knee injury in the spring.
While all of the incoming transfers wound up starting games for the Sooners, only Nwaiwu started more than seven games. He was the only OU lineman to start all 12 games this season.
Wrong choice at offensive coordinator
After Jeff Lebby’s departure to Mississippi State last December, Sooners coach Brent Venables explored outside options for the offensive coordinator hire, including having a conversation with former Florida coach Dan Mullen.
But ultimately, Venables kept the hire in-house, elevating offensive analyst Seth Littrell into the role.
It seemed a natural fit.
Littrell already had a strong relationship with Jackson Arnold and had had plenty of success offensively both as an offensive coordinator and a head coach, and was an OU alum.
But Littrell had never coached quarterbacks before and Arnold never really took off under Littrell’s tutelage.
Things fell apart against Tennessee, leading to Arnold’s benching after an interception and two fumbles.
Freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. gave the Sooners a bit of a spark initially, but Hawkins also struggled with ball security with three quick turnovers against South Carolina on Oct. 19.
The day after that embarrassing home loss to the Gamecocks, Littrell was out of a job and Joe Jon Finley was elevated to call plays for the remainder of the season.
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Wide receiver depth
While the offensive line issues could’ve been expected with as much turnover as the Sooners had there, the wide receiver group appeared to be the deepest on the offense heading into the season.
Though OU lost leading receiver Drake Stoops from the 2023 squad, it brought back Jalil Farooq, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Jayden Gibson, Jaquaize Pettaway and Brenen Thompson.
That group accounted for 142 catches for 2,607 yards and 20 touchdowns a season ago.
The Sooners seemed well-equipped to handle Gibson’s preseason injury that ended his season before it began.
But Anthony’s return from the knee injury that kept him out for much of last season never really got off the ground, as he played just eight plays before his season was done.
Farooq caught a 47-yard pass on the Sooners’ second offensive play of the season before re-aggravating a foot injury that would keep him out until November.
Anderson missed the first three games before returning and suffering another injury that ultimately ended his season.
The returners who offered so much hope going into the season combined for just 28 catches for 379 yards and two touchdowns, both by Thompson.
The great majority of that production came from Thompson, who had 19 catches for 230 yards and two scores.
Jackson Arnold wound up having more touchdown catches than Farooq, Anderson, Anthony, Gibson and Pettaway combined.
Big things were expected of Burks, a Purdue transfer, as well. Early on, Burks looked the part, with 22 catches for 169 yards and three touchdowns before SEC play began.
But Burks suffered an injury against Tennessee and appeared in just one more game the rest of the way.
Though OU brought in three highly touted wide receivers in the 2024 class, none had more than six catches though all played extensively.
The Sooners’ leading receiver wound up being tight end Bauer Sharp, who had 42 catches for just 324 yards.
A freshman walk-on, Jacob Jordan, wound up with 22 catches for 207 yards to finish the regular season third on the team.
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Running back struggles
Gavin Sawchuk looked like a budding star in 2023 when he had 744 yards and nine touchdowns on 120 carries.
Much of that production came late in the season, when he had five consecutive 100-plus yard performances to end the season.
But Sawchuk’s season never took off, as he had just 61 yards on 26 carries.
The Sooners finally got going a bit on the ground late in the season, but through seven games, were averaging just 112.3 yards on the ground.
Jovantae Barnes was a big part of OU’s late-season success, though he missed the last three games due to injury while freshman Taylor Tatum showed promise but struggled with fumbling issues and ultimately saw his playing time reduced as Xavier Robinson emerged in Barnes’ absence.
2024 OU football schedule
- Aug. 30: OU 51, Temple 3
- Sept. 7: OU 16, Houston 12
- Sept. 14: OU 34, Tulane 19
- Sept. 21: Tennessee 25, OU 15
- Sept. 28: OU 27, Auburn 21
- Oct. 12: Texas 34, OU 3
- Oct. 19: South Carolina 35, OU 9
- Oct. 26: Ole Miss 26, OU 14
- Nov. 2: OU 59, Maine 14
- Nov. 9: Missouri 30, OU 23
- Nov. 23: OU 24, Alabama 3
- Nov. 30: LSU 37, OU 17
- Dec. 27: vs. Army, 11 a.m., ESPN (Armed Forced Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas)
2025 OU football schedule
- Aug. 30: vs. Illinois State
- Sept. 6: vs. Michigan
- Sept. 13: at Temple
- Sept. 20: vs. Auburn
- Oct. 4: vs. Kent State
- Oct. 11: vs. Texas (in Dallas)
- Oct. 18: at South Carolina
- Oct. 25: vs. Ole Miss
- Nov. 1: at Tennessee
- Nov. 15: at Alabama
- Nov. 22: vs. Missouri
- Nov. 29: vs. LSU