Oklahoma soccer is down unhealthy. The Sooners, beneath a first-year employees led by head coach Brent Venables, started the season as a preseason top-10 crew and have rapidly floundered to 3-3.
Whereas there may be nonetheless quite a lot of season left, Oklahoma is coming off of its most demoralizing lack of the 12 months. It received obliterated by Texas within the Pink River Shootout Showdown and didn’t rating a single level.
Not one. The Sooners misplaced 49-0 to the Longhorns.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who all people praised as a genius for what he did with the Ole Miss offense within the final two seasons, was fully uncovered. The Rebels offense is cooking in Mississippi whereas their former play-caller received shut out in Dallas.
To make issues worse, within the actually embarrassing rivalry loss, Oklahoma totaled… 39 yards passing…. with two interceptions.
Now, beginning quarterback Dillon Gabriel was injured and can present an enormous increase when he returns to the lineup in opposition to Kansas on Saturday, however yikes. Lower than 40 yards by means of the air final weekend.
Even earlier than Gabriel’s absence, the Sooners offense couldn’t get a lot going by means of the air. They rank ninetieth general (out of 131 FBS groups) in whole offense, behind an abysmal Florida Worldwide crew, Rice, Japanese Michigan and Bowling Inexperienced, amongst others. For sure, that’s not good.
A big a part of the struggles stem from a scarcity of deep risk. The Oklahoma offense lacks next-level pace.
To deal with that difficulty, Venables is shifting one in all his finest defenders to the opposite aspect of the ball. Defensive again D.J. Graham is shifting to extensive receiver.
Graham, a 6-foot-0, 190-pound athlete with nice ball abilities, performed each methods in highschool and earned first-team all-district honors as a receiver. Since arriving in Norman, nonetheless, he has play solely on protection, beginning in 16 of the final 18 video games.
In 2021, Graham recorded 37 tackles. He recorded 14 tackles within the first six video games of 2022.
His most notable play makes it very clear why Graham shall be simply advantageous as a pass-catcher. He has severe sticky fingers.
Oklahoma is determined for offense and determined for play-makers. Perhaps Graham shall be that spark?