Oklahoma's Offensive Line Continues to be an Issue in Blowout Loss to Georgia

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has talked several times about needing to develop an identity as a team.

After Saturday's 41-13 loss to No. 2 Georgia at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga., it's hard to argue about the Sooners' identity.

Oklahoma is a team with a fantastic defense, but with an offense that is less than one dimensional.

Sooners' offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle tried some different things aaginst the Bulldogs, with some success, but OU's offensive shortcomings continue to be glaringly obvious.

Oklahoma also struggled early to get plauys in in time, leading to burned timeouts and a pair of delay-of-game calls.

The positional grades after the loss reflect the ups and downs of the Sooners' attack:

Quarterback: F

Maybe last week's problems could be chalked up to the Sooners' inability to block for John Mateer up front.

But there was no way to work around Mateer's ineffectiveness against the Bulldogs.

The Sooners turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions in the first half — all on the shoulders of Mateer.

The biggest came early in the second quarter, just after Georgia went ahead 14-0.

Oklahoma finally started to drive, looking like a competent offense. But on second-and-goal from the 4, Mateer inexplicably did a pump fake on what looked to be a run. The ball popped out without contact and Chris Cole picked it up and went 85 yards for the touchdown.

Mateer threw an interception on the next drive, and the Sooners' defense came up with a three-and-out, then fumbled again on the next to give Georgia the ball at the OU 11.

Mateer completed 12 of his first 14 passes, but his repeated bad decisions gave the Sooners no realistic chance to pull of the upset.

Mateer finished 25 of 34 for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

Running Backs: D

While the offensive line and quarterback play continue to make it tough sledding for the running game, there's still precious little plays being made by the bunch.

Broken tackles are rare, and even on plays where the blocking is there, the running backs can't create much in the way of positivity.

Oklahoma came into the game with its fewest rushing yards through three games since 1939, and it didn't get any better in the fourth. The Sooners had just 65 yards on the ground against Georgia.

Lloyd Avant "led" the Sooners with 10 carries for 23 yards.

OU's longest run of the day was Mateer's 9-yard gain and the longest by a running back was an 8-yard run by Jonathan Hatton Jr.

Wide Receivers: C+

Isaiah Sategna continues to be a bright spot for the Sooners.

Sategna had eight catches for 81 yards.

Mackenzie Alleyne had three catches for 18 yards but suffered an injury after his last catch.

Elijah Thomas had one catch for 5 yards, but was once again wide open on a player where Mateer couldn't identify Thomas being open early enough to make a play.

Manny Choice scored his first career touchdown late to at least get the Sooners into double figures.

Tight Ends: B-

Rocky Beers continues to be the second-best weapon on the Sooners offense behind only Sategna.

Beers had eight catches for 84 yards and a touchdown, though had a fumble in the third quarter that gave the Bulldogs the ball inside the OU 30 and led to another Georgia score.

Hayden Hansen didn't have a catch but was wide open in the end zone on the play that ended with a Bulldogs' touchdown after Mateer's first fumble.

Offensive Line: F

The Sooners continue to be ineffective up front.

They switched things up some Saturday, starting Heath Ozaeta and Noah Best at the guard spots with Eddy Pierre-Louis initially taking a seat. Pierre-Louis ultimately played plenty but Bill Bedenbaugh's group couldn't find much that worked.

E'Marion Harris continues to struggle at right tackle and without Michael Fasusi on the left side, the group looks lost. Maybe Fasusi's eventual return helps unlock something, but that possibility seems to be getting further from reality every week.

Defensive Line: B

A few days after David Stone suffered an injury that was feared to keep him out for a stretch, the junior defensive tackle was in the starting lineup against Georgia.

Stone wasn't as impactful as he was a week before, but he wasn't bad.

Jayden Jackson was in on a sack early and outside of a late long touchdown run, the front did a solid job of helping contain the Bulldogs' explosive running game. Georgia was playing without star running back Nate Frazier, but it was still a strong showing.

Bishop Thomas recovered a fumble.

Linebackers: B+

The Sooners were behind the eight ball at linebacker coming in, with Kip Lewis returning from an injury, and Cole Sullivan out for the second consecutive game.

They took a hit early when Owen Heinecke was banged up and forced from the game with an apparent right hamstring injury.

Heinecke figured to be at the center of Oklahoma's plan to slow down Georgia's running attack but even without Heinecke the group held their own.

Lewis was called for a block below the waist in the second half that was an incredibly bad call as Lewis made a play that appeared to put the Bulldogs in a third-and-long.

Lewis also got his hands on the Sooners' lone interception of the game.

Secondary: B-

The back end of the Sooners' defense got off to a rough start.

Eli Bowen got beat for a 30-yard gain early, and Courtland Guillory was called for pass interference later on that same drive just before a Georgia touchdown.

But the secondary settled into the game, and performed better the rest of the way.

Omarion Robinson, startinf for the second consecutive week with Michael Boganowski out, was excellent. His day included a third-quarter interception that helped set up the Sooners' first touchdown.

Special Teams: C

Oklahoma's special teams have been excellent over the last couple of years, but over the last couple games, the group has struggled.

Tate Sandell missed a 54-yard field goal in the third quarter.

The Sooners managed no punt-return yards on five Bulldogs' punts.

The brightest spot, once again, was the punting.

Jacob Ulrich stepped in for Grayson Miller and averaged 48.8 yards on six punts.with a long of 56.

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