Tennessee football opens up SEC play on Saturday night when they head to Norman to face No. 15 Oklahoma.
Here’s a look at the Oklahoma Sooners ahead of the primetime matchup against Tennessee at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
More From RTI: Bob Stoops Releases Statement On Josh Heupel To Open Up Tennessee-Oklahoma Week
How The Sooners Got Here
Expectations varied for Oklahoma entering its first season in SEC with them breaking in a new quarterback while playing a very challenging conference schedule.
The Sooners are unbeaten to this point in the season, dominating Temple in their season opener. Oklahoma looked more susceptible the last two weeks earning a four-point win over Houston in week two before scoring a late touchdown to defeat Tulane 34-19 last week.
Oklahoma’s Strengths
The short of it is that Oklahoma’s strengths are almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma’s defense has lived up to its billing this young season as one of the best in the SEC.
It starts on the defensive line for the Sooners. They’re allowing just 77 rushing yards per game and rank 10th nationally with 11 sacks through three games this season. According to PFF, Oklahoma has the second best run defense in the country.
Oklahoma’s defense has been fantastic forcing turnovers. In fact, the Sooners lead the SEC with 10 turnovers faced through three games. Though, six of those turnovers are fumbles. It may be an unsustainable way of forcing turnovers.
The one area where Oklahoma’s offense has been fantastic this season is in the red zone. Oklahoma has scored on all 13 of its trips to the red zone this season including touchdowns on 10 of them.
Oklahoma’s Weaknesses
Now we shift our attention to the offense. The struggles start along the offensive line where Oklahoma has really struggled this season, in part due to some injuries. Through three games, the Sooners rank 14th in the SEC with a modest 325 yards per game.
Due in part to the offensive line struggles, Oklahoma has failed to find much success in the passing game through three games this season. The Sooners haven’t been too much better on the ground with their top two running backs having totaled 126 and 102 yards so far this season.
Two jarring stats about Oklahoma’s offense that go together— the Sooners are one of three power four teams that have gone three-and-out on over 40% of their possessions. Tennessee is one of eight defenses nationally that have faced three-and-outs on 50% of their possessions.
Secondly, Oklahoma ranks 109th nationally with a 31% third down conversion rate.
Sooners Players To Know
Quarterback Jackson Arnold
Dillon Gabriel transferred to Oregon this offseason leaving redshirt freshman Jackson Arnold to step in as the Sooners’ new starting quarterback.
A former five-star recruit, the results have been shaky for Arnold so far this season. He’s thrown for just 484 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions so far this season. Pass protection hasn’t helped him any as he’s already been sacked nine times.
Arnold is a rushing threat. Despite being sacked nine times, he’s rushed for a team best 159 yards and two touchdowns.
Receiver Deion Burks
Burks has been by far Oklahoma’s top receiving threat so far this season. The 5-foot-9 slot receiver has caught 22 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns so far this season.
The Sooners’ next best pass catcher is tight end Bauer Sharp who’s caught just 10 passes for 80 yards and one touchdown.
The rest of the receivers on Oklahoma’s rosters have combined for just 13 receptions for 157 yards and one touchdown.
Linebacker Danny Stutsman
Stutsman is the best player on Oklahoma’s entire roster. The senior linebacker leads the Sooners with 33 tackles through three games after combining for 228 tackles over the last two seasons.
According to PFF, Stutsman has the highest run defense grade amongst SEC linebackers so far this season.
Stutsman has struggled in pass coverage so far this season though that hasn’t been a major problem for him in the past. The Preseason All-SEC selection totaled three interceptions and eight pass deflections the last two seasons.
Defensive End R Mason Thomas
Thomas is the top defensive lineman on Oklahoma’s roster. Through three games this season, Thomas has totaled seven tackles, three sacks and one pass deflection.
Along with Gracen Holton, Thomas has helped lead Oklahoma’s strong defensive line this season.
One note on the defensive line as a whole is that they’re not super deep with its starters playing 45-plus snaps in its wins over Houston and Tulane.
What Josh Heupel Said About The Sooners
Opening statement
“Big week in front of us. Big challenge. Have a ton of respect, obviously for the (Oklahoma) program. Everybody that’s involved over there. Know a lot of them.
“But it’s a football team that’s playing really well. If you look at them defensively, doing a great job really in every category — applying pressure to the quarterback, sacks, turnovers and being extremely good against the run. Offensively, got dynamic playmakers. Young quarterback that’s playing really good football. And they do a really good job on special teams. So it’s a huge test for us, opportunity for us to go on the road in a really good environment and at the same time have an opportunity to put our brand in front of the entire country.”
On what he has seen from Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold
“Just in general, he takes great care of the football. I think he’s got great command and presence in what they’re doing offensively. He has the ability to use his feet to make things right. That can be when the pocket breaks down, designed quarterback, run, read game. He’s a really talented young player.”
On Oklahoma’s defense forcing 10 turnovers so far, what he’s seen on tape
“Ten is the right number. Their front (is) really active. They played tight coverage on the back end with all the structure that they show you on the back end. They play really assignment sound. They understand where they’re supposed to be and recognizing patterns and getting into windows. They tie all three phases, all three levels of the defense in extremely well. And then when you have the ball in their hands, they’re extremely active. Punching, ripping, putting their hat on the ball. They’ve changed the way the game’s played with a lot of those turnovers.”
