'Incremental Improvement': Oklahoma Offensive Line Still Needs to Make a Leap Forward

NORMAN — Oklahoma coach Brent Venables was fairly complimentary of his offensive line after the Sooners’ 41-13 loss at Georgia last weekend.

After Wednesday’s practice, Venables remained optimistic about the direction that the group is heading in, at least in one area.

“There was certainly improvement, particularly in pass pro,” Venables said. “We’ve got to be more aggressive, confident, attacking, quit-seeing-too-much kind of group.

“You’re going to mess up up front. The closer you are to the ball, the more difficult things are. Everything happens really fast. There was some incremental improvement there.”

Incremental improvement, though, won’t quite get it done given the treacherous path that lies ahead.

The Sooners face top-ranked Texas next weekend and all but two of the teams remaining on their schedule are in the top 25.

“Still gotta eliminate some of the negative plays as well to be a more cohesive unit,” Venables said.

While Oklahoma surrendered “just” three sacks against the Bulldogs, it ran for just 65 yards.

In four games so far this season, the Sooners have had 25 of 134 non-kneel down rushing plays go for negative yardage. That includes eight sacks.

Venables said Oklahoma was called for just one false start against Georgia. It was actually none.

The Sooners’ offensive line has been called for five accepted penalties through four games, including four false start calls on three different linemen and a holding call on Eddy Pierre-Louis.

“There’s some things that they improved at, and we’ve got to continue to get better,” Venables said. “We’re practicing better. This is a group that’s been together now for a few weeks and so they’re getting used to each other from a communication standpoint and what have you. But still working.

“We’ve got a long way to go from where we wanna be. But there is some incremental improvement there.”

The Sooners have started three different pairings of offensive linemen over the first four games.

Left tackle Michael Fasusi has played just 17 plays all season and hasn’t appeared in a game since leaving the opener early.

Venables said he wasn’t sure if there would be another round of transition for the line communication-wise when Fasusi returns.

“Obviously you get a new guy coming back into it, but he’s done it and done it for a whole season,” Venables said. “He’s been there in every walkthrough and team setting.”

The Sooners used seven different offensive linemen against Georgia, with Pierre-Louis playing 64 of the 72 plays after coming in for Noah Best early and Peyton Joseph playing 14 plays off the bench.

“We’re still trying to develop our depth,” Venables said. “We’ve got to play more guys. It’s a long season, we’ve got a ton of ball sitting in front of us. We’ve got to continue to improve.

“I think competition is a good thing. … We don’t have a ton (of depth) there as far as bodies. There are some guys that have some versatility that can play a few different spots to develop that depth. But as far as a cohesive starting five, there’s some guys in there that have a chance to be co-starters as well.”

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