NORMAN — With questions swirling around OU football following another inept offensive performance in last Saturday’s 34-3 loss to Texas, the Sooners showed up Monday aiming to put the rivalry game past them.
The team held a players only meeting Sunday and there was a sense of urgency during practice Monday to respond positively. By all accounts, they did just that and head coach Brent Venables and a handful of players made it clear following practice there is belief in the locker room that OU still has a lot to play for this season.
“We talked about this prior to the game,” Venables said during his weekly coaches show, “regardless of the outcome, Monday is coming and we’re going to have to flush the game and learn from it.”
The Sooners registered 237 total yards and didn’t score a touchdown in the blowout loss to their arch rivals. Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. tossed for 148 yards but seemed hesitant to push the ball down the field once OU fell behind.
The Sooners have gained 20-plus yards on 3.4% of their offensive plays this season, the third-worst percentage among Power 4 offenses over the past decade, according to TruMedia. The offense has a lot to learn from before South Carolina rolls into town.
“It’s the little details that (offensive coordinator Seth Littrell) has been talking about the whole season since fall camp,” Barnes said.
OU isn’t backing down to the challenge of righting the ship against South Carolina at 11:45 a.m. Saturday in Norman on SEC Network.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to have courage,” Venables said. “True courage is giving it all you’ve got, regardless of the outcome. You put everything you’ve got into it.
“ … Don’t be one foot in, one foot out.”
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OU offensive line showing ‘incremental improvement’
When asked on his coaches show if he had any positive offensive takeaways OU can build upon, Venables noted the offensive line.
“There’s nothing to celebrate, but they’re making incremental improvement with their cohesion and communication,” Venables said. “They opened up several holes, we’ve got to make some decisions better.
“We had some simple things, there was a ‘do this or do that’ when it comes to the quarterback, we’ve got to make some better decisions there because we had some real opportunities.”
Center Troy Everett, a captain for Saturday’s contest against the Gamecocks, was one of few bright spots when he returned from injury against the Longhorns and played 22 snaps.
After playing in nine games and making four starts at left guard last season, Everett underwent surgery during spring ball. While he was out, Everett said he tried to pour into and mentor the younger linemen on the roster.
Everett echoed Barnes’ sentiment regarding improving the offense’s fundamentals.
“We just got to jell better as a group and get better at the basics,” Everett said.
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Brent Venables recommits to Michael Hawkins Jr. as starting quarterback
After saying he never thought about replacing quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. with Jackson Arnold during the Red River Rivalry on Saturday, Venables was asked to confirm that Hawkins was the Sooners’ QB1 moving forward.
“Mike has shown a lot of really good stuff,” Venables said, “both in his limited time against Tennessee and he had some really good moments where he did some good stuff against Auburn. And even (against Texas), he did some good things and some things where now we see if we can learn from it.”
Venables said Arnold had a good week of practice last week but wants to give Hawkins a body of work in order to be fully evaluated.
Venables was also asked if it would benefit the team to have a quarterbacks coach and he pointed to Littrell’s experience coaching the position, offensive analyst Kevin Johns who called plays for Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard at Duke last season and Jack Lowary, an analyst who works with quarterbacks.
Players after practice raved about both Hawkins and Arnold’s approaches since Venables made the switch during the Tennessee game.
“Mike’s been awesome,” Everett said. “For an 18-year-old kid stepping in in this environment, he’s been unbelievable. He’s taken over. He’s meeting with the O-line. He’s meeting with the running backs, wide receivers. He’s taken over. By looking at him and the way he prepares, you wouldn’t expect that to be an 18-year-old kid.”
Barnes added: “Jackson is the same person since he got here last year. Obviously you’re gonna wanna be out there with your guys and you wanna contribute to anything we’re doing. As a competitor, I know that’s what he wants but he’s been doing a good job with just keeping a smile on his face and helping no matter what.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Brent Venables, OU football plan to ‘flush’ blowout loss to Texas
