Oklahoma's One Big Thing is to Run the Football Against an Imposing Michigan Defense

The Sooners showed plenty of signs last week that moving the football on the ground will be better this year, but when it comes to run defense, UTEP was no Michigan.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer (10) runs against Michigan. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

ANN ARBOR, MI — Now, we find out.

After one full week of college football, Michigan isn’t the greatest team out there. Not by a long stretch.

The Wolverines struggled to move the football and put up points last week against a directional school from the MAC. After nearly losing to Western Michigan and escaping defeat on a controversial miracle, this is a team with flaws on offense.

Wait’ll they get a load of Brent Venables and that Oklahoma defense.

But Michigan has a salty defense, too, and it’s the single most challenging matchup for this OU offense.

Can the Sooners run the football into the sharp, pointy teeth of the Wolverines?

Remember, that was Ben Arbuckle’s weakness last year in his first season as offensive coordinator. Too many times he had to turn to John Mateer to punch out 2 yards and a cloud of dust out of the QB power formations. 

As such, Mateer took a physical beating — so much so that he dedicated his offseason in the weight room getting bigger and stronger, as opposed to spending time on the field working strictly on refining his throwing release.

Last week it seemed Arbuckle didn’t need Mateer’s legs quite as much, as he ran the ball just three times.

But that was 51-0 against UTEP. 

If it’s 14-13 in the fourth quarter at The Big House and the Sooners’ ground game has been scuffling, will Arbuckle turn things over to Mateer like he did last year, when OU couldn’t generate a tradition run game and Mateer carried it 19 times to beat the Wolverines 24-13?

That OU squad averaged just 3.5 yards per carry for the season and 118.5 yards per game, some of the lowest single-season totals in program history.

This OU squad shows plenty of signs they’ll be improved. The offensive line got better over the course of the 2025 season, and returns almost intact for ’26. Those new tight ends sure look the part. Transfer Lloyd Avant runs with more decisiveness than anybody did last year. And the passing game should be more explosive, which doesn’t allow defenses to load the box to stop the run.

So … should be.

Although Michigan's "win" over Western Michigan last week shoved the Wolverines from No. 16 in the polls to unranked this week, the Michigan defense will show us just how far the Oklahoma ground game has come. UM usually has a stout defense, and last year's team ranked 19th in the nation in both rushing yards allowed per game and rushing yards allowed per carry.

And if this OU squad, with an experienced QB and a ferocious defense, can suddenly run the football whenever it wants, against a Wolverines defense like this, then maybe a championship of some kind is in the Sooners’ near future.

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