Is Oklahoma More Injury-Prone Than Other SEC Teams?

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s offensive line have been regulars on the SEC availability reports over the last three years since the reports began.

Just this season, Michael Fasusi, Heath Ozaeta, and Eddy Pierre-Louis have appeared on the reports through the first two full weeks and in the initial report ahead of Saturday’s game against No. 15 Kentucky.

Last week, elsewhere on the roster, the Sooners had a late addition to the availability report with the late-week injury to cornerback Eli Bowen that ultimately kept him out of Oklahoma’s Red River Rivalry victory over Texas.

The spate of injuries on the offensive line, along with the late-week injury to Bowen last week and some similar instances last season have raised the question — does Oklahoma have an injury problem that is worse than other teams in the SEC?

The numbers support that the Sooners have more injuries than other teams — or at least report injuries more thoroughly.

Since the start of last season, Oklahoma has listed an average of 10.5 players per game on the reports during the week, the most in the SEC.

Kentucky, the Sooners’ opponent this week, is second at 10.08.

Only two others teams were above eight — Florida (9.0) and Arkansas (8.18).

Texas A&M is the lowest with just 3.3 players listed per game.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables was asked earlier this week about the perception.

“I don’t track what we do compared to other people,” Venables said. “Certainly, you’re always aware that injuries are part of the game, and it’s a physical, violent game.”

Venables said the Sooners took measures to limit exposure to injuries while remaining physical.

“We don’t tackle to the ground and we feel like really good football teams practice really good, and so you’ve got to take care of each other, but you’ve got to go good on good,” Venables said, noting that the Sooners starters and second team regularly went head-to-head during practice. “... We go against the scouts and all that, but for you to improve and get better, you need some good on good work.”

He also said the practice schedule would also be adjusted as the season went on.

“We actually taper our practices back as the season goes along,” Venables said. “But it does take what it takes.”

During the Lincoln Riley era, there were regularly questions about whether or not the Sooners were being physical enough in practice.

That hasn’t been raised in recent years under Venables, particularly as the defense has improved significantly.

“If you want to play physical and play tough, you have to practice that way,” Venables said.

In 2024, the Sooners’ wide receiver room was significantly thinned by injuries, something Venables noted changed the way his team practiced significantly.

“There’s always a fine line, we gotta keep a healthy team, but we’re very mindful of the time we put on the field, wear our GPS stuff, we look at all those types of things as well.” Venables said. “A couple years ago we had a roster that was really banged up on one side of the ball, so we practiced a lot less because those guys were just unavailable. We look at it all.”

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