Did Oklahoma Find an Answer by Shaking up the Offensive Line Against Texas?

NORMAN — A small tweak may have helped Oklahoma’s offensive line moving forward.

Freshman Noah Best made his fifth start against Texas, but through September, most of his work came at right guard.

In the Sooners’ 27-24 victory over the Longhorns, Best flipped sides with Heath Ozaeta, with the freshman starting at left guard and the veteran interior offensive lineman starting on the right side.

Nothing was pretty — the Sooners rushed for 83 yards on 31 carries — but the OU running game showed signs of life for the first time in the third quarter.

That growth was welcomed by the coaching staff, especially as Ozaeta’s game was briefly thrown into doubt when he had to get checked out by the trainers in warm-ups.

“Noah Best got better as the game went along,” OU coach Brent Venables said on Tuesday. “And Heath Ozaeta, I know he was kind of a little bit banged up, but he did some great things.”

Best impressed during spring football, but he truly emerged as a real option to start for Bill Bedenbaugh during fall camp.

Since then, he’s cemented his role as one of the Sooners’ most important pieces up front.

“He's always available, never not practicing, and I think that's where you get better at football, in practice,” offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. “Football's a developmental game, and Noah Best, from the moment he's gotten here to now, he just gets those reps. He gets to develop.”

Best felt that the entire rushing attack started to turn a corner after halftime, which is a necessity for the Sooners to build on momentum seized by taking down Texas.

Ozaeta was listed as questionable on the first SEC availability report of the week, but Arbuckle has no questions about his toughness if he’s able to take the field against No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday.

“He was ready to roll on snap 1 (against Texas),” Arbuckle said. “That’s all I know. He, shoot—you wouldn’t have been able to tell me one way or another that he was hurt. From play 1, he was ready to roll. He played really tough and played physical, showed up every single play, and he’s been that way in practice too.

“He’s accepted the challenge of being a more physical, tougher player, and I thought that showed Saturday with his readiness to play, his willingness to play and how he played. Proud of Heath, and we’ve got to continue building off that and pushing on.”

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