The Oklahoma Sooners will welcome a strong Tulane Green Waves team to town on Saturday afternoon. Oklahoma hopes to remain undefeated heading into SEC play in Week Four, but will have to survive a test against a Tulane team that nearly beat Kansas State last week.
The team needs to focus on the task at hand, but OU has the talent to pull through and pull out another win. But what do they need to do to pull out a victory? Here are three keys to the game for the Sooners.
1. Win the first attempt
The Oklahoma Sooners were not efficient enough on first downs in two games during the 2024 season. Against Houston, the Sooners had a first down success rate of just 38.4%.
The success rate is defined as achieving 40% of the yards on the first down, 60% of the yards on the second down, and 100% of the yards on the third and fourth down.
So Oklahoma gained four or more yards on only 10 of its 24 first downs in the game. If you don’t do much on first down, it becomes much more difficult on second and third down.
Teams with a high first-down success rate move the ball efficiently and score points. If Oklahoma wants to do well on offense, a higher first-down success rate would be a huge advantage.
Against a good Tulane offense, the Sooners’ defense will be a challenge, but one way to get to true freshman quarterback Darian Mensah is to force him to run longer and cover longer distances.
Oklahoma’s run defense has been really good to start the 2024 season, and if they can keep Makhi Hughes in check on the first attempt to force more second and long attempts, they have a really good chance of getting off the field.
Next: 2 more keys to the game
2. Find a rushing attack
To be more successful on the first attempt, you also have to be more efficient in the running game. Oklahoma only ran 75 yards against Houston and averaged 2.6 yards per run. That’s not enough.
Some of the inefficiency can be attributed to the injuries on the offensive line that the team has suffered. That has made it difficult for the unit to find much chemistry and cohesion up front. Playing on the offensive line, especially in the run game, requires a feel for what the guy next to you is doing.
Jovantae Barnes showed the best ability to gain yardage, but even he had some vision issues. But the Sooners will have to continue to rely on the junior running back from Nevada as they work to get their offensive line together. Barnes runs with momentum and power and was able to gain 40 yards on 12 carries on a night when the Sooners’ running game couldn’t do much more.
Tulane let Kansas State run for over 200 yards last week at 6.5 yards per carry, so if the Sooners want to win the running game, this could be a day they get everything right against Tulane.
3. Include the tight ends
In each of the first two games of the season, the Sooners’ tight ends have performed well in the passing game. First it was Bauer Sharp in the win over Temple. Last week, Jake Roberts put his stamp on the Sooners’ victory with a touchdown reception and a key first-down catch and run late in the game, allowing Oklahoma to take more time off the clock.
Neither of them will remind you of Mark Andrews or Keith Jackson, but they can provide size and consistency in the passing game. Without Nic Anderson, Oklahoma has played with wide receivers under 5’7″ in the passing game. Oklahoma needs some size in the passing game to give Jackson Arnold some easy completions in the short and intermediate passing game.
There’s a chance Anderson could play this week, but if he can’t play, Oklahoma can run more two-tight end sets. Roberts and Sharp have more experience at the college level than some of their younger wide receivers. That experience can help Arnold and the Sooners’ passing game.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: 3 Keys to the Oklahoma Sooners’ Victory over the Tulane Green Wave
