Well, we've finally made it. The final game of the season for this year's edition of the Oklahoma Sooners. While many expected the soon-to-be college football playoffs to play out on New Year's Eve, things didn't work out that way. Instead, they would sue San Antonio one last time to take on the Oregon Ducks at the Valero Alamo Bowl.
Bob Stoops will lead the charge as interim head coach before new head coach Brent Venables is replaced. With Riley exiting, Sooners also lost his play-collar. While Jeff Laby would still be in charge of the offense after this game, Black Gundy would reign as play-caller for the first time in 23 years of coaching.
Gundy's one-game tenure as a play-caller means we have no prior data or information regarding how Gundy plans to call a game. With that, let's take a look at the game's offensive keys that could have helped make Gundy's first stint as a play-caller a success.
If They Block, They Score
Oklahoma was not his usual high octane offense from start to finish this season. Instead it was inconsistent performance at times. The defense seemed more credible than the Jekyll and Hyde offense that the Sooners demonstrated.
At its core was the game of the offensive line. The team consistently struggled to hold together a game of dominance, at least to the level of great offense generated during Riley's tenure. For most of these starts, except for Tyrese Robinson and Marquis Hayes, they are likely to return for 2022. If guys like Andrew Reim, Anton Harrison and Chris Murray put on a good game to generate some positive momentum, look soon to score and score a lot.
Games such as the second half against Texas, the TCU game, or the Texas Tech game are just a few examples of how Sooners cannot go wrong on the offensive when the offensive line is played well.
When you take into account the fact that Oregon would be without 17 players on defense. Those 17 players were one of the players to enter the season on his two-deep. And the biggest loser is Kyvan Thibodaux, who opted-out for the NFL draft. The goal of the game should be to attack his replacement and get off to a quick start.