Oklahoma threw offensive balance to the side in an effort to kick start its running game Saturday. It worked in the Sooners’ 31-15 victory over Tulsa.
The Sooners snapped the ball 58 times and put the ball in the air just 13. Adrian Peterson was the offense early and almost exclusively in the second half, carrying the ball 32 times and delivered 220 yards.
OU’s coaching staff was quick to point that was the gameplan against the Golden Hurricane.
“We don’t plan on trying to pull that off all the time,” offensive coordinator Chuck Long said. “We wanted to do that because we had a certain goal for our offense. That goal was we needed a physical presence to carry throughout the year and it started (Saturday).”
OU thought it played soft in its season-opening loss to TCU and went back to the drawing board in the days leading up to the Tulsa game. The basic offensive elements of being able to open holes and sustain blocks were considered paramount.
Peterson averaging 6.8 yards per carry showed the Sooners haven’t forgotten how to run the ball. But it won’t be that simple the rest of the season.
Tulsa allowed over 300 rushing yards to Minnesota in its season opener and would hardly be considered an immovable object against anybody’s ground game.
OU must throw the ball to have sustained success this season and the Sooners still haven’t proven they can do that.
Quarterback Rhett Bomar was 5-for-13 for 42 yards in his first start. The game was clearly taken out of his hands in the second half.
“We didn’t ask him to really carry us and we didn’t require our quarterback position to have to win for us,” Sooner coach Bob Stoops said. “We went in wanting to establish and be strong running the football. We did.”
Although his arm was a non-factor, the redshirt freshman did pick up two first downs running the ball, including a huge scramble facing third-and-10 midway through the fourth quarter.
He will remain the starter this week as the Sooners prepare for their first venture outside Owen Field. OU meets UCLA (2-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Developing Bomar and the Sooner passing game will take some time. Bomar has seen significant playing time in just one game and experience can’t be gained on the practice fields.
Finding out what Bomar can run and gelling that with OU’s receiving corps is next on the table.
“We have to see what Rhett’s real comfortable with,” Long said. “I have a good idea what Rhett’s comfortable with and we have to keep working those schemes.”
The Sooners will need to find that cohesion sooner rather than later. They will run the ball plenty this season, but doing it on every down will make for a difficult campaign.
By design, Bomar didn’t shoulder much of the burden against Tulsa. But the load is going to get heavier.
“We’re going to continue to give him more as we go,” Stoops said. “He’ll definitely have to do more this week to win at UCLA.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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