Oklahoma’s offensive line made history against Mississippi for all the wrong reasons

OXFORD, MS – For the second straight week, Oklahoma’s offensive line set a program record.

And it’s not a story anyone at Crimson and Cream wants to remember.

The Sooners allowed 10 sacks on Saturday 26-14 loss to No. 18 Mississippiwhich is the most allowed by OU since the NCAA began recording sacks as an official statistic in 2000. Three of those sacks were allowed in the first half and seven came after halftime.

“The first half was really good. The second half wasn’t very good,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables he said about the unit after the game. “We are losing by two points, and that’s partly it. Jacob Sexton’s wound doesn’t help.

“…Sometimes I thought we really did it, we did a good job with chip protection. You can’t do that the whole game, not because of what we had to do to win the game. It must be better there. It’s terrible, know that. In this respect, the first half was a bit cleaner. He kept the quarterback upright. It had a really nice rhythm. The second half, not so much.”

A lot of good things came from the offensive line in the first half.

The Sooners (4-4, 1-4 SEC) rushed for 125 yards against the nation’s best defense, which allowed less than 70 yards per game before the weekend.

Oklahoma’s ability to open up holes at running back Jovantae Barneswho finished the game with 67 rushing yards on 16 carries, kept the Rebels defense guessing.

The person calling for a temporary play Joe Jon Finley moved the pocket for the quarterback Jackson Arnold which also brought positive results against Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2).

OU completed two of its six longest drives of the season, including a 92-yard march at the end of the half to give the visitors a 14-10 lead.

However, the bottom fell out in the third quarter.

In 12 plays, OU was only able to gain 23 yards.

Ole Miss’ offense gained momentum and the Sooners quickly found themselves in a two-possession situation.

From there, Mississippi selected left tackle Logan Howland and left guard Heath Ozaeta whereupon both young figures were forced into action Jake Taylor there was a scratch following the trip to Oxford, and Sexton left the game with an injury in the sectional quarter.

“Man, it’s just like playing in the NFL – if you’re using left tackle, it’s going to be a lot harder,” Finley said after the loss. “But my job is to help him and put him in a position where he can be successful, but I didn’t do a good enough job of doing that.”

However, Howland and Ozaeta are not to blame for OU’s problems in SEC play.

Last week, Oklahoma’s offensive line allowed nine sacks to nine different South Carolina linebackers.

In five SEC games, OU quarterbacks were sacked 30 times.

A year ago, Oklahoma gave up just 20 sacks in a 13-game season.

“Of course it sucks,” inside Troy Everett he said. “Go out on the pitch in the first half and play quite decently, of course there is something to work on. We come out in the second half, still keeping the ball, still doing it. We just have to finish the game, we just have to be better.

When given enough time, Arnold played well enough to keep OU in the game.

He completed 22 of 21 passes for 182 yards and two scores. Before bag yardage was subtracted from his total, Arnold was also able to rush for 103 yards, although he only gained 39 rushing yards after being dropped nine times.

Arnold’s only turnover, a foul, in the game where right back Febechi Nwaiwu slowly crossed the goal line. As a result, Arnold was destroyed at the net by Barnes and the ball was dropped.

There are probably no real answers to OU’s woes from above – not in 2024, anyway.

Even a healthy unit struggled to give the offense a chance to operate with any real efficiency.

Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh may decide to fully support the youth movement in upcoming games. This week, Venables said the coaching staff had repeatedly considered whether to keep true freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis’ redshirt following his performance in the opener against Temple.

Transfers of Michael Tarquin, Spencer Brown and Nwaiwu will not be included in Oklahoma’s plans going forward.

Next week should bring some respite as OU welcomes Maine to Norman, although nothing is certain about how Bedenbaugh’s line will play in 2024.

While the results have been historically bad, the Sooners will have to live with the youthful mistakes of players like Howland and Ozaeta because that is the only way the duo can learn.

“I’m proud of Logan for how he fought, proud of Sexton for trying to beat it,” Finley said. “I’m just proud of this group of guys because a lot of people wrote them off, didn’t give them any chance, and they came to work on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and came out swinging today. I’m extremely proud of them.”