Oklahoma O-Line To Face Toughest Test Yet From Cincinnati Front

NORMAN – Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has been looking for more production from his offensive line, which has struggled to run the ball consistently through three games.

Now the unit faces perhaps its toughest test of the young season when the Sooners travel to Cincinnati to open Big 12 Conference play Saturday.

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The Bearcats (2-1) boast one of the country's most formidable nosetackle combinations in redshirt sophomore Dontay Corleone and senior Jowon Briggs.

Corleone, a 6-foot-2, 318-pounder who is nicknamed "The Godfather," was named First-Team Preseason All-American by Associated Press and was Pro Football Focus' highest-rated defensive player in 2022 (93.8).

Briggs (6-2, 297), was a 2022 All-American Athletic Conference First-Team selection.

"What we're seeing out of Cincinnati is a front that's really good," Lebby said Monday at his weekly news conference. "They big, they're long, they're physical and the strength of their defense is to me, that front. It will be a great challenge for us as we go on the road."

In Corleone, the Bearcats have a defender that can singlehandedly affect a game plan.

"He’s a guy that’s played incredibly well," Lebby said. They have a bunch of guys who have played incredibly well. Again, it’s a big, long physical group and we have to do a great job being able to mix it up, changing the tempo, doing some things where we are huddling and slowing down and making sure that we have the right guys hatted because of some of the different presentations that we’re getting defensively. We’ll continue to do that, being able to mix it up and change it up and varying the tempos as we play."

The Sooners relied most on the passing game in last week's 66-17 rout of Tulsa, rushing 28 times for 119 yards (4.3 average). Sophomore Jovantae Barnes led the way with 13 carries for 68 yards, a 5.2 average.

OU rushed for 189 yards in a 28-11 win over SMU the week before, averaging 4.0 yards per carry. Junior Tawee Walker gained 117 yards on 21 carries, a 5.6 average.

In a Week One blowout of Arkansas State, Oklahoma had its best rushing performance to date, gaining 220 yards on 49 carries and averaging 4.5 yards per tote. Nine players carries the ball that day and no one individual cracked 50 yards.

"We've got to continue to get better, obviously, as we move forward," Lebby said. "The unit that we're facing this week is going to be the best unit we've played up to this point."

Multiple offensive linemen got playing time against Tulsa, with right tackle Tyler Guyton, center Andrew Raym and right guard McKade Mettauer each leading the Sooners with 54 offensive snaps.

Left tackle Walter Rouse played 40 snaps while Troy Everett again backed up Savion Byrd at left guard and got more snaps (37) than Byrd (13) for the second straight week. Freshman Cayden Green split playing time at the guard and tackle positions and finished with 32 snaps total. Sophomore Jacob Sexton, back from his Cheez-It Bowl knee injury, played 28 snaps at left tackle.

"We've got to continue to play guys like Cayden and like Jacob so we're able to play multiple guys at the front spot," Lebby said. "I think we ended up playing 10 last week. Troy also has played a lot of ball for us in the first three weeks, which has been good to see.

"The run game, we need more production from that standpoint. And we also need to create some explosives at times in the run game, so we'll look forward to that being a part of who we are as we're moving forward as well."

The o-line must communicate effectively and play fundamentally sound football Saturday to be successful, Lebby said. It's particularly important as the fluctuations continue at left guard.

"Yeah, there's got to be a heightened urgency in communication and making sure that everybody's on the same page all the time," Lebby said. "I think with the guys that are playing and rolling in there, it's because there's not a dropoff in how we're playing, obviously, there's not a big issue from a communication or a chemistry standpoint because we don't want to put that at risk. But it takes urgency by Raym and whoever the tackle is playing next to the guy and making sure that everybody's doing a great job of communicating Monday through Saturday once they get in the building today and everybody being on the same page. That's definitely part of it.

"It is the five big boys, it’s the tight end, it’s the back, it’s the QB, all working together to make sure we’re maximizing every single carry," he said. "The biggest thing is if we go block a run for seven yards ... we want to gain at least seven yards. You’d like to block a run for seven yards and gain 25. That’s what I mean by winning our one-on-ones. We’ve got to maximize that, continue to clean up fundamentally across the board for everybody is a huge part, of it and we’ll continue to focus on that and work on that."

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