Sooner offense shrouded in mystery

There's no guessing what first-year SEC offense will look like on the field

Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold (10) throws against BYU during the second half on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The more I dig in, the more I’m convinced nobody knows what this Oklahoma football team’s bound to become.

So here’s some advice.

Embrace it.

It’s the Sooners’ first year in the SEC, which makes things wildly interesting in the first place, but it’s also the case we have no idea how things will look on the field.

On Sunday here, a long look was taken at the Sooner defense. Today, we’re trying to do the same thing with the offense and it’s not easy.

Like, did you know the last time OU really won without its offense being its strongest unit was 2006?

That’s the year.

Rhett Bomar, still the great quarterback hope after a four-loss season in which he completed just 54.2 percent of his passes, had to be jettisoned upon the realization he’d been a ghost employee at a car dealership.

Now, of course, a dealership can just write a Sooner quarterback a check as part of an NIL deal, but whatever. 

The next guy, Paul Thompson, was imminently more likable and the guy after Thompson, Sam Bradford, though an Oklahoma City kid, may not have chosen OU had Bomar stayed, so isn’t it crazy how things work out.

Thompson, though a fine leader and good quarterback, was not next level. 

Yet, because OU could play some real defense, an offense that gained just 368.7 yards per outing, much of it provided by junior tailback Adrian Peterson, was good enough to win a Big 12 championship and would have finished in the top 10 had Boise State not converted trick play after trick play at the Fiesta Bowl.

An offense like that, even against a better, tougher, stronger conference, even alongside an allegedly vastly improved defense, can’t be the Sooner future can it?

I went looking for clues.

Truly relying on defense would mean taking OU football back a generation and nobody should want to see that happen.

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