Oklahoma Run Game Continues to Improve, but Needs Another Step to Knock off Alabama

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s running game remains far from perfect.

But after struggling to move the ball effectively on the ground for much of the season, the Sooners have shown significant improvement on the ground in recent weeks.

Over the first six games of the season, the Sooners averaged 122.3 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry on the ground.

In the last three games, OU is averaging 166.3 rushing yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry.

“The efficiency of when we are running the ball has just been getting better and better … by design and by a lot of hard work with the guys,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said.

Part of the improvement, Venables said, is the natural improvement of the offense over the course of the season.

“Second half you figure out coverages, the blitzes, the blitz patterns, and the spaces,” Venables said. “The coaches do. The players do. You start to get into a nice rhythm. But it all starts with having success, getting on schedule, early-down efficiency whether it’s the three-step game, the space game, or you’re running the football effectively.”

OU made a similar leap last season, averaging more than 100 more yards per game over the last five games than it did the first eight, and making a 66.7% leap in yards per carry.

Much like last season, Xavier Robinson’s continuing emergence has helped bolster the Sooners’ running game.

The sophomore had just 16 carries for 50 yards during the first six games. Since, Robinson has 36 carries for 282 yards and four touchdowns.

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In last season’s 24-3 upset victory over Alabama, Robinson ran for a then-career-high 107 yards and two touchdowns as the Sooners ran for 257 yards overall — their most against an FBS opponent in 2024.

The Sooners figure to need another strong performance if they are to pull off another upset of the Crimson Tide, this time in Tuscaloosa, when OU and Alabama face off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday (ABC).

Another big piece of that growth has come thanks to improved play on the offensive line.

Freshmen Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fodje have given the Sooners’ a lift up front, as has redshirt freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis.

“He’s done fantastic,” Venables said of offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. “You don’t want to handicap everybody else around you on offense because they’re new guys, so you put ’em in there so they can go execute at a high level. Physically, emotionally, communication-wise, there’s a lot that goes on. We talk about that. That’s the position on your team that needs the chemistry and the cohesion and time spent together to really play well together.”

Pierre-Louis has added a different level of energy to the group, and the group has made plenty of strides even since he broke into the lineup.

“We’ve been working on the small details about hands, eyes and feet,” Pierre-Louis said. “That has been the main thing about playing offensive line, and we’ve still got minor things that we need to critique, but the main thing is we’ve been doing a great job just communicating. That’s been the main thing, just communicating and having an idea of which way the ball is going, how to leverage blocks.”