NORMAN — Since practice began, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has told one thing to his unit nearly every day: Alabama, which won the 2009 national championship, didn’t have a holding penalty its last nine games of the season.
“He hammers it hard,” OU right tackle Eric Mensik said. “A lot of us remember that because there’s no doubt that helped them win a national championship. With the way our offensive line started last year, it really put a fire in us to work toward not getting those penalties.”
The way OU’s offense began last season was ugly and the warts went beyond the line’s ability to open holes and protect the quarterback. The false start and illegal formation penalties that plagued the Sooners’ first series against BYU set a tone for the whole season.
If OU has one goal entering its season opener, it’s to not beat itself.
“You can’t really control what the referees are going to call. Obviously, we don’t want to have holding penalties or anything like that. It’s just one of those things our offense needs to control as a unit,” quarterback Landry Jones said. “It’s everybody on the field, it’s me getting the snap count right so we don’t have any offsides penalties, and it’s offensive linemen keeping their hands inside, the receivers keeping their hands inside and getting their alignment right.
“It’s just one of those things we really need to clean up and we’ve really focused on that because that really killed us in some of our games.”
But how do you clean that up?
Tight end Trent Ratterree said you don’t wait until preseason camp to start working on the problem.
“We did something about it throughout the winter and summer. It was something that was always a key topic,” he said.
One way the coaching staff went about correcting the problem was to bring in referees on a frequent basis to preseason practices. But the Alabama example laid out the cause-and-effect in terms that are easier to understand. Disciplined teams win tough games and win championships. Undisciplined teams go 8-5.
Wilson admits he still doesn’t know where this team will fall. He’s liked what he’s seen, but the jury is still out until OU plays some actual games.
“It’ll be interesting to see,” he said. “If you see a bunch of guys jumping offsides, grabbing and holding, and the ball on the ground in the opener, then we haven’t made strides. If you see a cleaner deal, maybe we’re making progress. And if we keep building, maybe at the end we’ll be a strong team. We have a chance to be.”
Saturday’s season opener against Utah State will be the first test. The final score might be the main focus, but that penalty statistic will be big for the Sooners. There’s no set number, but all involved know the 12 they were flagged for against BYU last season was as embarrassing as the 14-13 loss.
“There’s no way we can start out like that. If we do, we’ll have a lull on us the rest of the season,” Mensik said. “We have to show that this a new group of guys, and we’re ready to play.”
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
