Oklahoma Sooners expected to make an offensive line shakeup, new starting lineup to play against the Michigan Wolverines 

The Oklahoma Sooners and head coach Brent Venables kicked off the 2025 college football season with a 35 to 3 victory over Illinois State this past weekend. A part of that win, new quarterback John Mateer completed 30 of 37 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns. He made a lot of flashy plays in his Sooner debut. 

While Mateer will generate most of the conversation and hype for now, the Sooner offense has a lot of importance that it will need moving forward. The offensive line was a group that underwhelmed tremendously in the season opener, which has been an issue now for the Sooners for a couple of years. Bill Bedenbaugh's group has got to get a lot better, and it looks like they could be looking to make some changes heading into this week's home matchup against the Michigan Wolverines.

During the win over the Redbirds, this is how the Oklahoma Sooners' offensive line looked:

Left tackle: Jacob Sexton (Sr.)

Left guard: Eddy Pierre-Louis (RS So.)

Center: Troy Everett (RS Sr.)

Right guard: Febechi Nwaiwu (RS Sr.)

Right tackle: Logan Howland (RS So.)

If you watched the Sooners' game closely, Oklahoma wasn't able to generate much movement in the running game despite playing against an inferior opponent. On the day, they managed to rush for just 103 yards and two touchdowns on 32 attempts as a team. That is an average of 3.2 yards per carry, which is a really troubling number when adjusted against the level of competition. The impact on the run game needs to get a whole lot better.

Is there a change on the horizon?

There were two types of Oklahoma fans leaving that victory. Some were yelling for patience with this offensive line, and wanted a bigger sample size to see if Coach Bedenbaugh's group can show some improvements. Others are seeing some of the same issues as last season, which begs the question about what it is going to take to find a solution for this issue. The biggest decisions are already being made behind the scenes. From the sounds of it, we could be getting a different starting lineup up front this weekend.

According to a source close to the Sooners program, this is how the offensive line could look against Michigan:

Left tackle: Michael Fasusi (Fr.)

Left guard: Febechi Nwaiwu (RS Sr.)

Center: Troy Everett (RS Sr.)

Right guard: Ryan Fodje (Fr.) 

Right tackle: Logan Howland (RS So.)

If not for a complication a couple of weeks ago, there was a strong possibility that Fasusi would have been the starter at left tackle this past week. Now that he is ready to go, the plan appears to be for the five-star true freshman to take his lumps and grow on the blindside. It would be interesting to see if Fodje does get a long leash inside. He replaced Pierre-Louis this past week, but had his own struggles as well over the weekend.

One interesting note was that Nwaiwu may be shifting over to the left guard spot. Regardless of whether that switch does happen, I do expect it to be Nwaiwu and Fodje who are holding down the offensive guard positions. While Howland feels set at right tackle as well, keep an eye out for Derek Simmons to also challenge for reps. Coach Bedenbaugh is going to need to get this group settled, and their performance against the Wolverines may determine the strategy moving forward.