How Playing ‘Loose’ Can Help Oklahoma’s Offense Bounce Back Against Kansas

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s offense has loads of strain on it this week.

One week after failing to place a single level on the board within the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners welcome in a Kansas Jayhawks offense that has had the identical success as Texas on the scoreboard.

Each the No. 19-ranked Jayhawks and the No. 22-ranked Longhorns common 38.8 factors per sport, the Nineteenth-best mark within the nation.

And whereas it’s possible Kansas’ beginning quarterback Jalon Daniels will miss the sport Saturday, backup Jason Bean had loads of success in opposition to OU final 12 months.

Bean threw for 246 yards and ran for 59 extra yards a 12 months in the past in opposition to a Sooner protection that was enjoying quite a bit higher than the latest model of the 2022 protection.

Jeff Lebby’s offense is predicted to get beginning quarterback Dillon Gabriel again this week, an entire change of circumstance from what the OU quarterback image seemed like final week. However the offense has sputtered even with the proficient lefty on the helm.

Gabriel missed key throws at pivotal moments within the loss to Kansas State, and was much more erratic in Fort Value earlier than he was knocked out of the sport.

With the boldness for OU’s protection showing to achieve a brand new low, the Sooner offense must settle in early and rating with the Jayhawks this Saturday.

The Sooners are not any strangers to gradual begins, nonetheless. Oklahoma has fallen behind first in each sport besides the season opener this 12 months, and it’s vital that the offense isn’t urgent from the beginning or the problems may as soon as once more compound on Saturday.

“I believe that the largest factor for our offense proper now truly is to play unfastened,” tight finish Brayden Willis mentioned after observe on Monday. “Simply play unfastened and relaxed a little bit bit, and simply exit and make performs.

“… We’ve got to exit and count on to make performs and make these performs. We will’t wait on anyone else to make performs. So I believe that’s going to be an enormous emphasis this week goes out and attacking the alternatives we get.”

Final Saturday the Sooners walked off the sector embarrassed.

The shutout loss to Texas marked the primary time since 1998 OU did not muster a single level, snapping a streak of 311 video games.

Oklahoma can’t wipe final week’s displaying out of the document books. In addition they can’t proper all of the wrongs of this season on one play, which is a mentality Willis mentioned the offense should guard in opposition to.

“It’s a targeted depth,” he mentioned. “You may’t be overly intense the place you’re stuffed with rage and also you don’t keep in mind your job, however you additionally need to be intense.

“… Then there’s the having enjoyable side of it. Among the finest groups, once they go on the market and make massive performs, you see them having enjoyable with one another. I believe that’s an enormous element that if we may get, particularly with how shut this staff is and this offense is generally, I believe we may actually play with one another with the love now we have for one another.”

To have huge success, the Sooners will even need to discover a method to navigate unfavorable performs in opposition to Kansas.

This 12 months, Oklahoma has allowed poor exertion on one singular play to snowball into doomed drives, dangerous quarters and dreadful halves of soccer.

Within the face of a unfavorable play, the offense should reply with a greater play to search out any sort of rhythm and get again on monitor.

“I believe dealing with failure is figuring out, once more, not every part’s going to go nicely or go excellent,” OU coach Brent Venables mentioned on Tuesday. “And it doesn’t need to. So simply having a poise and a maturity to know in these moments, don’t flinch. Play the following play, play the following collection. Get the changes, get the corrections, after which take it to the sector the following collection, versus a lot stress the place it’s catastrophic if issues don’t go nicely.

“Proper now, we’re simply not enjoying with the effectivity that we have to. That goes on each side of the ball, so we can assist and praise each other.”

No matter how the season has gone up to now, Oklahoma has an opportunity this Saturday to snap its three-game skid and seize constructive momentum forward of the bye week.

OU can’t dwell on the primary half of the season this week, as these gloomy ideas received’t serve anybody nicely as soon as the ball is kicked off in opposition to the Jayhawks.

“Clearly as rivals we’re all a little bit disenchanted and pissed off,” vast receiver Drake Stoops mentioned on Monday. “This isn’t how any of us envisioned us beginning the primary six video games of the season. We put the sport to relaxation immediately.

“We watched movie (Sunday). We watched it once more immediately. We went via it with the coaches. Now it’s time to place our greatest foot ahead for Kansas, which is a extremely good soccer staff coming in on Saturday.”

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