Oklahoma vs Temple INSTANT REACTION | What Did We Learn? | OU Sooners Football

welcome back to another episode of rock boys football Brent venables the Oklahoma Sooners wrapping up a 51 to3 win against Temple at home to kick off the 2024 season deal kind of mixed back I think there were a lot of things that you saw that you liked a lot notably this defense one this defensive team speed is absolutely insane I mean you talk about speed and athleticism at all three levels but I think most importantly yeah something we've been talking about all offseason this team is incredibly deep I they were rotating probably 30 to 35 players throughout the duration of that game and you never really saw a drop off and play so when you are a superior athletic defense and then you're a really deep defense that's a good recipe obviously with Bren BBL they're kind of coaching up the defense it's a good recipe to be a very good defense and I look at Oklahoma heading into the SEC and say this is a defense that you can win a lot of football games with I would say that it looked like an CC defense like size speed strength now you look at the offensive side of the football I think there's things that you like right Jackson Arnold I thought looked solid his offensive line certainly didn't do him any favors we'll talk about that uh Deion Burke's connection with Jackson Arnold gonna be elite Bowers sharp want to get into some of those things now before we do it as always one to the Oklahoma fans I was on the message boards I was on Twitter I know there is kind of some mixed feelings about this home opener let it fly in the comment section things that you like things that you didn't like we'll kind of talk about some of the stuff that we noticed as well and if you all do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel D we'll probably dive into the film a little bit later this week in terms of what we saw but without further Ado let's start on the defense because I thought that was by far the highlight of the night for Oklahoma big takeaways from this Oklahoma defense I mean it's kind of what you kind of said it's very complete it's very athletic and I also think you're starting to see those young guys really start to emerge and play the way I think you would kind of expect AV Venable's defense to play I was like very impressed by guys like Grayson Halton and Ashton Sanders very impressed by Lewis Carter so again you're starting to see guys who you I think are gonna become the core of this program start to kind of take on the identity of what I think Bren venol wants this looked like a Bren venal defense I think that's a great way of putting it like it was aggressive it was smothering creating turnovers creating negative plays we talked about the death like the death the inside of this defensive line is is dummy I mean we talk about getting a guy like Dominic Williams in the transfer portal yes very good player proven commodity dejon Terry we talked about him all off season Jaden Jackson didn't look like a true freshman some of the guys that you just SED out Grayson hton had a phenomenal game they go six7 deep and that's not even including you know five star David Stone who probably towards week five and week six as he continues to kind of get college football ready probably gets more into that rotation the depth on the inside of the defensive line is it might be one of the deeper units we see in the country also super Bristol that's another thing I would kind of hit I mean you have and you had your kind of questions like who are gonna be the Run stuffers and then you add Dominic Williams Jaden Jackson emerges really well we all knew Deon Terry would be that guy but you also have guys who are really really disruptive and when you saw that tandem of Ashton Sanders and Grayson Halton that time yes saw some real disruption so I think again a very versatile group a very deep group and that's something I think you've had at Oklahoma in the past couple years I don't think you had great defensive line play it was good in the edge play has been really quite good but you haven't have real dominant guys in that middle yeah and I think you made a good point not only it's deep and we kind of always talk about like you look back at what made Georgia's defensive line so good or Michigan's in 2023 it's to death it's rotating big bodies but the drop off not really happening the versatility I think is a really good point too like what's the recipe for this Oklahoma defense it has stopped the run on first and second down probably god with Jaden Jackson and Dominic Williams and de Terry you can throw in Grayson hton and potentially David Stone later on in the year as your pass rusher interior defensive line those kids are freaks in terms of the athleticism quickness off the line of scrimmage giving interior offensive lineman problems all day with you know the juice and athleticism then you look at the edge rusher spot D Ethan DS kind of reminding us just a guy that flow flew under the radar all of 2023 we kind of said it Ethan D played good football in 2023 I think he might have fell short of the expectations that some set on him after the 2022 season Ethan DS looked really good arason Thomas like finally in Ron Thomas that's had a healthy off season and looks to part physically we all know this kid has a ton of juice this Oklahoma defensive line stood out D Kip Lewis Lewis Carter and we kind of talked about it who's going to emerge as that running mate next to Danny stutzman my personal take it's Kip Lewis kid bring so much juice to this openen is gonna give him a run though and Le Carter I thought he looked really good I ain't here right they were just playing fast they're playing the way you wanted to see where they were making plays in space obviously that's been kind of the contention where last year with Canik being kind of the second guy there were too many moments it felt like where that wasn't necessarily happen it he didn't look like he was comfortable in Space the way those guys are so to see those two emerge and obviously leis Carter as well I think that gives you a better chance put putting together frankly a better linebacker unit than he had last year 100% And we all knew these kids were super athletic I think Dan Landing said it best describing one of his linebackers hey they're running real fast just not always in the right direction like you're starting to see guys like Kip Lewis you see the football field and start playing a little bit faster between the years like we know they're physically extremely fast now they know what they're doing in this Oklahoma defense and you can kind of see them take their game up to the next level this this Oklahoma front seven going to be really good then you look at the secondary you talk about the two safeties in the cheetah position does it get much better across the country like we've said a pton Bowen Billy Bowman Jr Spears Jennings I don't know if you could find a trio of safeties that are better Kendall Dolby was phenomenal in this football game Zach Alli and Brad BBL are going to continue to get really creative with those four guys they're all really versatile can do a lot of different things what do we have five turnovers today I have a feeling you're going to see Oklahoma critting a lot of turnovers throughout the 2024 season and did a much better job taking away space in the middle of the field I think that was the one thing we were all kind of looking for when we broke down what Zach Aly might add to this Oklahoma repertoire in terms of what they're gonna do and what their scheme might look like that that obviously I mean again it is Temple at the end of the day so obviously when you go play the big dogs if you will in the SEC you gotta let that translate but again I think very impressive in terms of like some of the adjustments you saw from last year and one of thing I want to say about the secondary is I mean they're Playmakers like that's one like again that Kendall Dolby Connie Walker tandem teaming up for that interception like that it's just I mean a unit that's playing really confident playing really fast they're all getting to the ball and then they're making finishing the plays off in the way that you have to because I think that's kind of an underrated thing when you have again you see guys like getting their hands on footballs and you're not taking it away you're not getting picks like that that stuff matters and the fact that they're kind of doing it and it almost looks like a little bit of backyard like having fun getting after that I really like the way the whole defense's attitude kind of looked especially in the secondary you you noted it is Temple but this team look like a legitimate great defense like you can just kind of tell by how fast they're playing and how much how many footballs they're getting their hands on I came away really kind of my expectations to be honest like I thought this Oklahoma defense would be damn good at certainly looked damn good Friday night D let's flip over to the offensive side of the football Jackson Arnold maybe polarizing performance I thought he was pretty damn solid you're still talking about a true sophomore quarterback that made his second career start D the ball was coming out quick I'm timeing accurately for the most part I mean he didn't miss a ton of throws and the ball didn't go In Harm's Way one time I don't think I think that's kind of checking some of the boxes you wanted to see from Jackson Arnold not well I'll leave it for you first how would you evaluate Jackson Arnold's performance I loved it I honestly like his problem was the offensive line was not playing good at all talk about that with the pass rusher but I thought he was making plays and that was the one thing you probably wanted more than what you got from Dylan Gabriel at times was that ability to not only extend plays and make plays with your feet and Jackson Arnold's certainly a better athlete than Dylan Gabriel but also to be able to make throws down the field from off platform I thought I actually thought he had a really really nice game and frankly I think it got detracted a little bit by the fact fact that there were a lot of sacks they were bad on third down because they just simply were not doing a good job of pass Pro yeah and I I agree we're going to talk about the offensive line a couple other positives before we get into what Oklahoma needs to clean up Deon Burks Jackson Arnold like that's going to be a dynamite dynamite connection and I think more importantly like they're using Deion Burks the way we envisioned it like hey just get this kid in space get him the football on his hands in a variety of different ways and go let him impact the football game that's kind of what Oklahoma did D Bowers sharp is going to provide a ton of juice to this tight end you talk about maybe that one position that I think Oklahoma got the most better at I don't know if that kind of is grammatically right it it has to be the tight end R because bow Sharp's a guy that you know you go back to Austin stagner there was no juice there like he would do what you asked for him to do but there was nothing more coming from Austin stagner you look at Bowers sharp lining him up all over the football field making plays in a variety of different ways ju after the catch and I think this passing attack gets better as one Andre Anthony gets a little bit more healthy you could tell he was kind of ramping back from the injury and then once you get Nick Anderson like I think Nick Anderson is much better at stretching the field vertically than a guy like Brennon Thompson who something frustrating about Brennon Thompson is I know he is super super fast but what 102 in the 100 meter dash coming out of high school I wish he played faster you know is that if that makes sense like sometimes we get so wrapped up in these track and field times and I'm not saying I'm mod on brenon Thompson and the slightest it just seems like sometimes kind of quarterbacks get their hands on him a little bit JJ hter like just being honest didn't exactly fill the Nick Anderson Anderson obviously that throw that Jackson Arnold made to JJ huster was one of best you'll see all season I mean that was incredible you certainly have to go make that catch if you're JJ Hester so I think you're kind of right I mean that wide receiver room that's not what it's going to look like I think when you do get Nick Anderson and when Jalil faroo plays a full game and and you have your whole repid or Arsenal I guess at your disposal that unit's going to be really really good so I don't think they have any questions and I also think the running back unit looked really good I was really happy to see Javonte Barnes rip a couple of really nice runs especially having that like Dynamic ability in space that was kind of like you've seen him be able to hammer the ball pretty effectively at times up in between the tackles but again a couple nice runs getting out in space and being able to show a little bit more dynamism to his game yep javante Barnes was my last positive and in fact the notes I had from the running back room is one nice to see Javonte Barnes running like the true freshman Javon barns Hammer downhill being physical and like you said when he got to the second level you saw a little bit of juice true freshman Taylor t is gonna be hard to keep off the field that kid is really and D most of all like you know we're we're Michigan fans what was the biggest growing pain for a guy like Donovan Edwards was the feel of the running back position having that Vision no one to kind of take your yards no want to bounce it out Taylor Tatum has that like it's just an inherent thing with him he has such good feel at the running back spot I think he's going to be a guy that as he continues to get his feet wet is going to be really tough to keep off the field now let's talk about the one a glaring negative was the offensive line and pass for wasn't great Spencer r at right tackle like I just a change made there frankly you can't you can't start him an SEC play and I think what's most concerning is even in the Run game it's not like this Oklahoma offense line was imposing their will on a temple front seven that's not very good and so if you're not imposing your will on a temple front seven you're not going to impose your will on a team like Tennessee week what four and so that's my big it was our biggest concern all offseason right like what is this offensive line going to look like what's the best five going to look like they've continued to shuffle it I think the big problem is Spencer Brown a right tackle but I don't think that was an overall good performance from the unit certainly doesn't help when your Center goes down Branson Hickman hopefully we get some information on that getting Jake Taylor back healthy I think will be big if any Oklahoma fans know the deal on Jake Taylor you guys dropped in the comments section he apparently was suited up he was listed as the starter and then just didn't play so I'm guessing it's some sort of nagging injury that they just wanted to hold him out so I I would I think Jake Taylor is one of your best five offensive linemen so he's gonna make this unit better that being said Bill B has his work cut out for him the next two weeks before he get into that c play because if there's one thing that holds this Oklahoma team back from competing at in my opinion legitimately the top of the SEC it's the offensive line but we all know if you come into an SEC season with a subpar offensive line you're gonna get punished for it in in the reshuffle I felt like was really disruptive and I in that's almost big problem it's like and I don't want to like yeah every team when they have to shuffle the deck on their offensive line you you expect some maybe regression but it felt like it was a monstrous a they were it did a lot of shuffling it felt like I mean guys coming like you Chang like three positions over I think at the end of the day three or four and and that's again I think Oklahoma's deeper than that than that I was a little surprised frankly how that yeah how that kind of injury was handled and how many guys switch positions mid game it again there's I think there's gonna be some things figured out because at the end of the day anyone with two eyes knows that's not even close to what it needs to be and if they go play like that up front against teams like Tennessee they're just they're not putting I would guess you're going to see a significantly different starting five offensive line probably next week but more importantly come week four against Tennessee outside of the offensive lale this team can be dangerous in the SEC that was my big takeway like I think this defense is a very very good defense I think Jackson Arnold is a quarterback you can win with I think you have Playmakers around Jackson Arnold I also think Jackson Arnold's element in the Run game will help that offensive line a little bit agreed I don't quick note on that I don't need Jackson taking 11 carries against Tempo and I need him getting down and I I I trust me I know Jackson Arnold is a competitor and he's probably going to be one of those guys that doesn't want to slide and hey I'm all for when you get in SEC play but I was I was like do we need to be running Jackson arold that much against Temple that was kind of my takeaway you want to see CLE clean it up on third down two one to 12 that's not a good number but look you didn't play your best football you won what 3 to 51 you kind of go you look at the offensive line if you can figure that out like fire me up for Oak in the that also is a good sign when you don't play that great and you're still and you're still putting like a good beat down on a team yeah of course they're an inferior team but that's how it has to look you can't play your best game necessarily every game but still every time you play a team like Temple you should be beaten them by four scores 100% 100% we'll close it out there what you got 11:30 p.m Eastern Time right now for the boys appreciate you guys rocking I don't know if it's that late actually no only 10:45 appreciate you guys rocking with the fellas if yall do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel appreciate you guys and we'll talk to yall later