Stock Report: Offense finding second win as season heads into final stretch
Oklahoma’s domination of West Virginia was a welcome sight on the heels of two frustrating losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State. The losses put a trip to Arlington in doubt for the Big 12 title game.
After back-to-back losses, the Sooners had to dust themselves off, get back up, and fight. They did just that on Saturday.
They came out swinging and never looked back.
The offense looked as cohesive and explosive as it has all year and the defense put a stranglehold on a physical West Virginia rushing attack. From a coaching perspective, Venables looked comfortable, and his coordinators, in particular Jeff Lebby, were in sync the entire game.
As Oklahoma prepares for a trip to Provo, Utah, to take on BYU in its final regular season road trip of 2023, we look at how the team is trending heading into the game in the week’s stock report.
Stock Up: Offense
Oklahoma’s offense rediscovered itself after a sleepy performance against UCF and a rain-soaked mess against Kansas. Despite losing to Oklahoma State, the Sooners, at many points in the game, effortlessly moved the ball down the field. Turnovers, mental mistakes, and poor playcalling from the offensive coordinator doomed those drives, costing the Sooners the game.
They corrected those things in their win over West Virginia, exploding for 644 yards and eight offensive touchdowns. If Jeff Lebby can find that kind of consistency in his play calls, Oklahoma should cruise to victory in their final two games against less-than-stellar defenses.
Stock Down: Health of defensive backs
Oklahoma can’t buy any luck with defensive back health this season, yet somehow they continue to make an impact. Competitive depth was the phrase all offseason.
It has shown up this year as injuries to guys like Gentry Williams, Kani Walker, Peyton Bowen, Makari Vickers, Key Lawrence, and Justin Harrington have made things dicey in their preparation. Guys have stepped up, but freshman Makari Vickers looks like he may be out for the future after an injury he suffered against West Virginia.
Oklahoma will keep pushing forward, but the injuries are starting to pile up.
Stock Up: Austin Stogner
Saturday provided viewers with the best performance we’ve seen from a tight end since last year when Brayden Willis was still a part of the team. Austin Stogner had his best game as a Sooner since transferring back from South Carolina.
He had four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.
Notably absent from the game was having Stogner block defenders in space or line up wide. He’s struggled in the wide receiver screen game for much of this season. The negative plays resulting from those issues were noticeably absent on Saturday.
Stock Down: Jaren Kanak
Jaren Kanak is losing snaps to Kip Lewis. And rightfully so because in his snaps, Lewis is playing better ball.
Kanak has had an up-and-down season in his first year as a starter. The ability is still very much there. He’s fast and athletic and has shown flashes of really good play this season.
Over these last few games to end the regular season, we’ll be interested in figuring out how the sophomore linebacker responds to having his snaps cut into by Kip Lewis and even Kobie McKinzie.
Stock Up: Brent Venables
After two disappointing losses where overwhelming criticism was lumped onto his offensive coordinator, Brent Venables fell on the sword and accepted responsibility.
However, that’s not even the most commendable part. The response was even better.
Saturday indicated conversations were held behind closed doors about consistency and ways to maximize the offense. And on Saturday, they showed that, and for that, Brent Venables is navigating life as the head coach very well in his second season in charge. He continues to show improvement as a head coach.
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