NORMAN — Former OU president George Lynn Cross famously, and wryly, told a legislative appropriations committee in the early 1950s that he would “like to build a university of which the football team could be proud.”
Using the parlance of Cross, Sooner fans for years have longed for OU to build a defense its offense could be proud of. A defense that wouldn’t let the elite quarterback play of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts go to waste. A defense, to put it simply, that wouldn’t let the offense down.
Suddenly, almost jarringly so, the script has flipped in Norman.
As OU opens its season at 6 p.m. Friday against Temple, it’s the defense that’s projected to be dependable — dominant, even — while the Sooner offense is shrouded in uncertainty.
Is Jackson Arnold the real deal? Is OU’s rebuilt offensive line going to gel? What will be the Sooners’ identity under new offensive coordinator Seth Littrell?
All good questions.
“Excited about what they could become,” Brent Venables said Monday of OU’s offense.
More: What’s ahead for first OU football game? Brent Venables not afraid to mix up formula
Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables watches drills during the University of Oklahoma (OU) spring football practice at the Everest Training Center in Norman, Okla., Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
But …
“We’re not there yet,” Venables added.
That’s coach speak, and Venables would likely say the same about every facet of his team, but we really don’t know if OU’s offense is “there yet,” whatever your interpretation of “there” may be.
Rather than assessing the offense as a whole, Venables zeroed in on OU’s offensive line, which he praised. A good sign for a position group ripe with skepticism.
“I really like the leadership and buy-in with our guys on the offensive line,”…
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