Roman Harper on Tennessee vs. Oklahoma: 'They made them look like I was playing my son in the backyard'
Roman Harper came away from Saturday’s primetime game between Tennessee and Oklahoma a bit surprised with the result. The Volunteers won 25-15 on the road in Norman, but they final score doesn’t tell the full story of how dominant they were.
The Sooners offense looked completely lost, eventually benching starting quarterback Jackson Arnold in Favor of true freshman Michael Hawkins. Tennessee forced three turnovers and recorded three sacks as the defensive line won the battle up front.
Speaking on The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday, Harper had a telling comparison for how helpless the Oklahoma offense looked at times.
“In all honesty, Tennessee was tougher than Oklahoma was,” the SEC Network analyst said. “Tennessee’s defense outmanned them. They made them look like I was playing my son in the backyard at times the way they treated the offensive line vs. Tennessee’s defensive line. The corners on the outside gave them no space to throw the ball into tight windows.
“Great job for Tennessee forcing turnovers, making the big plays when they needed to, and really just taking all of the fight out of the offense of Oklahoma and eventually choking them out and putting them to sleep that night.”
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It was a major letdown for the Sooners in their first SEC game and raises concerns about what the first of their inaugural season in the conference will look like. The defense certainly looked like it can compete on this level, but the offense could not get out of its own way.
Even when the defense seemingly gifted scoring opportunities to them by forcing turnovers, the offense would give it right back.
Harper pointed to one moment in the second quarter where OU forced a sack-fumble and recovered the ball at the Tennessee 5-yard line. The score at the time was 10-3, and it looked as if the Sooners would have a chance to tie it. However, Arnold immediately fumbled the ball back to the Vols.
The very same quarter, Oklahoma would again force a fumble with 5:31 to go and recover the ball at the Vols 33-yard line. Again, on the very next play, Arnold panicked under pressure and threw a lateral that fell behind his intended receiver and was recover by the Tennessee defense.
The Volunteers went on to score a touchdown on the ensuing drive, taking a 19-3 lead into halftime
“I thought Oklahoma might have a chance to win that game being at home in Norman,” Harper said. “I thought their defense played fantastic for four quarters. They played hard. They weren’t perfect, but they played hard. They set their offense up to score in multiple situations and all they did is take the ball and give it right back to Tennessee and allow them to go down there and go score.
“…This game was right there for Oklahoma to be had. They get a sack-fumble in the pocket, because Nico Iamaleava’s not perfect. He’s really dang good, but he’s not perfect. You get the fumble, you’re inside the five and you take the quarterback run because you don’t want him to throw it, and he fumbles it right back. Oklahoma stops them, they punt the ball and then you give up a safety. It’s 12-3 and your defense is playing their butts off and you get no support on the other side.”
OU found some rhythm late in the second half after benching Arnold, as Hawkins led the Sooners on a pair of late touchdown drives. He finished the game 11-of-18 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown. More importantly, he did not commit any turnovers.
It will be interesting to see what direction Oklahoma goes next week, but it’s clear it needs to do something to spark some life into the offense. The Sooners are set to play Auburn at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.