NORMAN — The cracks were evident from the jump.
Even in a 51-3 rout of Temple to begin the season, OU’s offense lacked juice.
On the second Sooners’ drive of the game, wide receiver Deion Burks took a handoff on a jet sweep.
After the play, OU starting center Branson Hickman stayed down, grasping at his right leg.
There were plenty of reasons for the Sooners’ disappointing season — injuries at wide receiver that racked the depth there, quarterback issues and an underperforming running game among them — but the offensive line issue was at the forefront.
In that opener, though OU scored five offensive touchdowns, it had just 378 total yards —158 through the air.
It was a sign the Sooners’ offense could be in trouble offensively.
OU’s defense was better than solid. It ranked 21st nationally in total defense, allowing 318.2 yards per game, and 34th in scoring defense, allowing just 21.58 points per game.
The Sooners limped to a 6-6 regular season and needed an improbable 24-3 blowout win over Alabama late in the season just to reach bowl eligibility.
But as the Sooners prepare to try to avoid a second sub-.500 finish in three seasons when they take on Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27 (11 a.m., ESPN), here’s a look at what went wrong for OU this season.
The offensive line
There were plenty of questions about Bill Bedenbaugh’s group heading into the season.
OU lost starters Tyler Guyton, McKade Mettauer, Andrew Raym and Walter Rouse to the NFL while Cayden Green and Savion Byrd left via transfer.
Of the 65 combined starts on the offensive line last season, only eight returned this season — four each by Troy Everett and Jacob Sexton.
The Sooners rebuilt their offensive line by bringing in a large group of experienced linemen through the transfer portal.
Hickman came from SMU, Spencer Brown from Michigan State, Geirean Hatchett from Washington, Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas and Michael Tarquin from USC.
The Sooners wound up rolling out eight different combinations of offensive line starters in their first nine games before settling on a group that included Troy Everett, Nwaiwu, Brown and redshirt freshmen Logan Howland and Heath Ozaeta.
Hatchett started the opener at left guard but was forced to center after Hickman’s early injury. Tarquin, Sexton and Jake Taylor were all in and out of the lineup due to injuries while Everett wasn’t available until October after suffering a knee injury in the spring.
While all of the incoming transfers wound up starting games for the Sooners, only Nwaiwu started more than seven games. He was the only OU lineman to start all 12 games this season.
