Oklahoma's Rushing Game Showing Slight Improvement but Needs to Continue to Progress

The Sooners have rushed for fewer than 100 yards in three consecutive games.

Oklahoma running back Lloyd Avant carries against Texas. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s running game remains flawed.

The 27-24 win over No. 1 Texas doesn’t change that, even if two third-quarter runs by Lloyd Avant were the longest the Sooners had had since the season opener and helped OU put up 10 points on those drives.

But there was progress against the Longhorns, with those plays and others in the second half.

The Sooners ran for just 83 yards in the win, with 82 coming in the second half.

“I thought as the game went along I thought our guys gained some confidence,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said. “We became a little more precise, which leads to a little more physicality, a little better finish. I thought we worked better together as the game got going and guys got settled in.”

Avant’s 42-yard run early in the third quarter began shifting the tide for the offensive line and the offense.

“We started running a lot of tempo, getting after them with a lot of counter,” guard Noah Best said. “You can tell they were tired out. They didn’t want none.

“You could feel the energy changing. We felt like we had the upper hand there, even though we were still down.”

The Sooners’ rushing offense remains one of the worst in college football at 95.8 yards per game.

Among power conference teams only Cal, Washington and Stanford are averaging fewer rushing yards per game.

Over the last three games, Oklahoma has averaged just less than 70 yards per game.

It’s the Sooners’ first three-game stretch without rushing for 100 or more yards since 2003 when Oklahoma went four consecutive games without reaching triple digits to close the season.

But while no one expects this running game to suddenly look like the 2014 rushing attack led by Samaje Perine, there is at least some reason for optimism that there could be some improvement.

Each of the Sooners’ last four opponents are ranked in the top 12 nationally in total defense and in the top 30 in rushing defense.

The best statistical offense Oklahoma faces the rest of the way is Missouri, which is No. 29 in total defense and No. 8 in rushing defense.

So while things won’t be easy the rest of the way in SEC play, there’s at least some relief.

“There’s plenty of things that we’ve got to get better and that weren’t good enough.” Venables said. “But I do think incremental improvement is there. We’ve talked about that a lot. It’s hard for sometimes guys that are in the middle of the forest to see the trees, and I get that. But having some success, quote-unquote, I do feel like that can reaffirm just continued good practice habits, going to work, starting back over. Don’t get bored with doing the mundane and our structure and how we do what we do and just buying into, again, improving and getting better every single day and what it looks like.”

The Sooners can’t take improvement for granted, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said, heading into Saturday's matchup with Kentucky (6:30 p.m., SEC Network).

“We need the momentum to carry over, but each game is mutually exclusive,” Arbuckle said. “If we think we’re going to roll into the first half of Kentucky and, just because we did some good things in the second half against Texas, that means we’re going to do good things in the first half against Kentucky, we are setting ourselves up for failure in that regard.”

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