Oklahoma-Oklahoma State: One Big Thing

The question still needs to be answered: who is this Oklahoma football team?

Are the Sooners (7-1 and No. 9 in the CFP rankings) good enough to get back to the Big 12 Championship Game and even make the College Football Playoff?

Or are we witnessing a week-by-week decent into the kind of mediocrity that plagued OU in Brent Venables’ rookie season — more directly, is this team headed toward a November filled with defeat and another season of four or five losses?

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby wants OU to be based in an RPO world — run-pass option. But is playing a 60-minute football game looking for the best option really what Venables wants his team’s offensive identity to be? Is this Oklahoma program really not talented enough to simply take what they want and impose their will on the defense?

Some of the Sooners’ best moments this season came when they were forced to throw the football, and they have executed that to near perfection in those opportunities.

Many football traditionalists will suggest that the RPO offense has neutered an otherwise capable OU offensive line and rendered the run game ineffective. Through eight games, the evidence is there to make that argument.

But has it also unnecessarily confused quarterback Dillon Gabriel and his receiver corps? In addition to other instances of receivers blocking when they should be going out for passes or vice versa throughout this season, the pick-six that Gabriel threw on just his second pass last week at Kansas suggest he and his wideouts aren’t always on the same page.

“That was one I could have taken the throw option off of it,” Lebby said afterward.

Probably should have.

There are similar uncertainties still being determined about the Oklahoma defense.

First and foremost, is linebacker Danny Stutsman healthy enough to lead by example — on the field, not on the sideline with a sprained ankle? If he is, Oklahoma’s defense gets a boost against Oklahoma State and the nation’s most prolific running back, Ollie Gordon. The return of cornerback Gentry Williams is expected to give the Sooner D a shot in the arm as well

But what’s going on with the OU secondary?

What was the strength of the defense through the first six games has dropped off precipitously since the bye week.

UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee came off an injury against OU to throw for 248 yards, then the next week tossed three interceptions against West Virginia.

KU’s Jason Bean was averaging 130 passing yards per game, but struck OU for 218. The Sooners did pick him off twice in the fourth quarter and held him under 50 percent completions, but he still punched holes in the Sooner secondary in crunch time.

“We gotta play well in the secondary,” Venables said.

Then there’s the ongoing problem with discipline.

Venables preaches discipline and accountability, yet issues continue to draw penalty flags for unsportsmanlike conduct, whether it’s Jaren Kanak celebrating a goal line stop or Kendel Dolby getting too excessive with a hip-toss on the sideline or an assistant coach lipping off at the official or Savion Byrd or others blocking after the whistle, lack of discipline has been costly in key situations.

But maybe all that answers the question of who this team is.

Maybe the offense is content just taking what the defense lets them have. Maybe the defense isn’t particularly good at covering receivers. And maybe the players and coaches really aren’t that disciplined after all.

No. 22-ranked Oklahoma State lies in wait on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium, waiting to exploit all of that.

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