Brent Venables didn’t waste any time after Oklahoma’s 14-6 win over New Mexico on Saturday night.
“That was... That was ugly,” the Sooners head coach said, and the line fit the moment.
Oklahoma escaped with a victory, but the offense turned in another rough showing, and this one came against a team that was not on Michigan’s level. The defense, meanwhile, carried the night and made sure the result still landed in the win column.
That’s the tension around this Oklahoma team right now: the schedule is about to tighten, and the Sooners are running out of time to fix an offense that has gone nowhere fast. Georgia is next on the road, then Texas two weeks later, and the rest of the SEC slate does not look any friendlier. Oklahoma’s upcoming stretch is one of the hardest in the FBS, and there isn’t much evidence yet that the offense is ready for it.
The defense was the reason Oklahoma survived New Mexico at all. The Sooners kept getting put in trouble by turnovers and stalled possessions, which handed the Lobos short fields at the 37, 39 and 30 after two John Mateer interceptions and an Isaiah Sategna muffed punt. New Mexico only managed three points out of those chances, and that kind of response kept Oklahoma from sliding into a far worse night.
David Stone and Owen Heinecke were central to that effort. Stone matched Heinecke with eight total tackles, and Stone also added two tackles for loss and half a sack. Heinecke finished with 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack, and he was doing the heavy lifting in the middle while also handling defensive signals in the absence of Kip Lewis.
Stone also delivered the biggest play of the game, stopping Scottre Humphrey on fourth-and-2 at the Oklahoma 17 late in the fourth quarter. That stop slammed the door on a New Mexico drive that could have changed everything.
The offensive side was a different story entirely. Oklahoma has now strung together two straight weeks of miserable football on that side of the ball, and the numbers are getting harder to ignore. Through three games, the Sooners rank dead last in the SEC in total offense at 329.7 yards per game, next-to-worst in rushing at 110.3 yards per game and next-to-worst in scoring offense at 25.0.
If this feels unfamiliar, it should. The article’s framing is blunt: you have to go back to the late 1990s to find an Oklahoma offense this ineffective this early in a season. The Sooners tried to answer after the Week 2 loss at Michigan, but the home performance against New Mexico was even worse.
Oklahoma now ranks 123rd nationally in rushing offense at just over 100 yards per game and 115th in total offense. There still doesn’t seem to be an offensive identity, only a team searching frantically for something that works.
The running game was the ugliest part of all. For the first time this season, Oklahoma used a healthy four-man backfield rotation along with Mateer, and none of the five runners got past 27 yards. As a team, the Sooners managed only 61 rushing yards, a season-low 1.9 yards per carry, against a New Mexico defense that crowded the box and challenged them to throw.
That 61-yard total was Oklahoma’s lowest since a 2008 game against TCU, when the Sooners were held to 25. The rushing totals have gone in the wrong direction fast: 170 against UTEP, 100 against Michigan and 61 against New Mexico.
And now comes Georgia, a defense allowing only 45.7 rushing yards per game and 1.5 per carry. For Oklahoma, the next step looks even rougher than the last one.
In Other News...
OUs Season May Hinge On One Choice Brent Venables Made
Oklahomas offense has been the programs biggest unresolved issue through the recent coaching changes, with the Sooners cycling from Seth Littrell to Ben Arbuckle in search of steadier production. Brent Venables has spent the better part of two seasons trying to fix that side of the ball while the defense has generally kept the team respectable, but the overall picture has still felt familiar to anyone who watched the turbulence of the past few years.
The larger question is whether the latest coordinator choice finally gives the Sooners a workable identity or just extends the same problem in a new direction. Venables also had other offensive candidates to weigh in 2024, which only adds to the sense that this decision may end up defining how the season is judged, especially if the offense does not take the leap Oklahoma has been waiting for. [Read more 🡒]
Georgias First SEC Clash With Oklahoma Carries One Intriguing Twist
No. 2 Georgias first regular-season meeting with Oklahoma brings the Sooners into one of the sports toughest road environments, and it arrives with both teams still trying to sort out early-season identity. Georgia is 3-0 and has the kind of balance Kirby Smart has come to expect, while Oklahoma sits at 2-1 and has yet to find full rhythm on offense, with quarterback John Mateer needing to take a step forward if the Sooners want to keep pace.
Brent Venables knows the assignment only gets harder against Gunner Stockton and a Georgia defense Smart has openly respected on the other side of the matchup. The more immediate Oklahoma concern may be up front, where defensive tackle David Stones status remains uncertain because of a knee injury, leaving another layer of instability before a trip that already demands near-perfect execution. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahomas 2028 Class Just Added Another Intriguing Athlete
Oklahomas 2028 recruiting class picked up another interesting piece with the verbal commitment of Colton Fitzgibbon, a dual-sport athlete whose speed and ability to play both football and baseball have made him stand out early. The 3-star recruit becomes the fourth pledge in a Sooners class that has started to build momentum well ahead of signing day.
Fitzgibbons addition also gives Oklahoma another reason to feel good about the direction of that group, with the Sooners 2028 class moving up to No. 4 nationally after his commitment. For a program that has long valued versatile athletes, Fitzgibbon fits the profile of a player who could bring options on campus, even if the next step in that path is still to be determined. [Read more 🡒]