What Does Oklahoma Need to Focus on During Bye Week?

From quarterback play to offensive line and beyond, the Sooners need to be plenty productive during the bye week.

Georgia linebacker Chris Cole returns a fumble for a touchdown against Oklahoma while offensive lineman Eddy Pierre-Louis trails. The Sooners must take better care of the ball and play better up front in order to improve their offense over the bye week. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — The first four games of the season have not gone how Oklahoma envisioned.

The Sooners' offense has been moribund, especially the rushing attack.

Oklahoma has scored just 37 points over the last three games, their worst scoring output over a three-game stretch since scoring 26 during a stretch in October 2024 that ultimately cost Seth Littrell his job as offensive coordinator.

The Sooners are averaging just 321.3 yards per game, with just 99 of those coming on the ground.

Now. Oklahoma gets a bit of a reprieve with a bye week after Saturday's 41-13 loss to No. 2 Georgia.

But the Sooners can't afford just to rest up this week, as they not only face top-ranked Texas next week in the annual Red River Showdown. but have the most difficult remaining schedule in college football.

Six of Oklahoma's remaining opponents are ranked, with one of the unranked duo being Texas A&M, which was in the top 10 just two weeks ago.

So here's a look at the Sooners' top priorities for the bye week:

Get Better at Quarterback

The first one is the biggest, and it's a multi-faceted issue.

First, the Sooners need to work to get John Mateer's confidence back.

Mateer is clearly struggling with his repeated mistakes and he seems to be sped up, leaving to even more errors.

Oklahoma needs to get Mateer's head back on straight so he can at least be the best version of himself for the rest of the year. whatever that role ultimately looks like.

The second prong of this is bringing along Whitt Newbauer and Bowe Bentley. Those two need more reps with the first team to see if one of the backups might give the Sooners a better chance to win moving forward.

Benley has the most upside, but as a freshman still has plenty of room to grow.

Newbauer might be the best choice to run the offense and avoiding costly turnovers that have crippled the Sooners so far.

Settle the Offensive Line

Oklahoma's biggest offensive problem so far has been its inability to block.

The Sooners haven't had their expected starting offensive line together all season.

Left tackle Michael Fasusi has played just 17 snaps this season while Ryan Fodje has been forced to play left tackle. Fodje and right tackle E'Marion Harris have both struggled, with sub-50 ratings according to Pro Football Focus, and have both been sub-50 when it comes to pass blocking while doing only slightly better on run blocking.

If the Sooners are to make an offensive improvement the rest of the way, the line must be better. Obviously the best solution would be to get Fasusi back, slide Fodje to either right guard or right tackle, and continue to bring Noah Best along.

If it looks like Fasusi will be out long term, Bill Bedenbaugh's group better make huge improvements anyway. That includes getting Fodje significant reps at tackle and figuring out if other changes need to be made.

If the offensive line improves significantly, it becomes much easier for the running backs to put up measurably better numbers.

Adjust the Offense to Generate Space

While plenty of questions can be raised about the game plans the two games before, Oklahoma's offensive game plan against Georgia at least showed some cereativity.

It shone through on the Sooners' first drive of the secone quarter when they drove from their own 25 to the Georgia 2 before Mateer's fumble was returned 85 yards for a Bulldogs' touchdown.

That drive ended in disaster, but at least showed that the Sooners are capable of moving the ball downfield against a good defense.

Whoever the quarterback is moving forward, Ben Arbuckle must find ways to put his offense in the best positions possible. That starts with being honest about his offense's limitations and taking them into account as he plans how to attack the big-time defenses that lie ahead on Oklahoma's schedule.

Oklahoma moved the ball on that drive by generating space for their playmakers to work, spreading the ball from sideline to sideline as much as vertically.

That needs to continue to be a bigger part of the offensive attack.

Ben Arbuckle on the field pregame prior to Oklahoma's 41-13 loss to Georgia. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Bring Along the new Defensive Players

The Sooners added depth defensively late in preseason camp/during the first two weeks of the season with defensive linemen Danny Saili and Braxton Fely, linebacker Jaydon Southard, and cornerback D'Yoni Hill.

So far, Saili has played 23 defensive plays, Fely has played eight, while Southard and Hill have only appeared on special teams.

While there's a good chance that none of those four winds up breaking into the starting lineup, the Sooners need to develop more depth defensively so the starters don't get worn down repeatedly.

The bye week will give the Sooners more of an opportunity to work with those four in particular to bring them along to have a chance to contribute.

Hill in particular could be a player who could make a big leap during the bye week. He started 23 games over the last three seasons at Wisconsin, Miami, and Marshall.

The Sooners' five starting defensive backs each played 39 snaps or more against Georgia (out of 54 total defensive snaps). That will be hard to sustain.

David Stone's injury, though he wound up playing vs. Georgia. highlighted Oklahoma's need to have more players ready to go along the defensive line. That's one of the things that made last season's defense so great and the Sooners' ability (or inability) to do that will go a long way toward determining how well the defense can hold up during a grueling SEC slate.

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