Inside The Trenches: Sooner Offensive line paves way to Red River Rematch

Oklahoma outlasted West Virginia on Friday night to earn a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game in large part because of the Sooners line play.

Last Friday was a test of wills to see who which team wanted it more in order for their team to make it to the Big 12 Championship Game next Saturday against Texas.

The talk was about Kyler Murray and Will Grier leading up to the game. Yes, Murray played phenomenal with his ability to escape the pocket and make plays as he threw for 364 yards on just 27 attempts. He also ran for an additional 114 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries. Yes, he won the battle between him and Grier who lost two fumbles that were returned for touchdowns in an otherwise outstanding game, but there were so many things beyond the two Heisman candidates at quarterback

No one talks about the performance from running back Kennedy Brooks, who played great, rushing for 182 yards and touchdown on 21 carries.

With the help of the interior offensive line of Creed Humphrey, Ben Powers and Samia Dru they were able to take advantage of the three-man front of West Virginia and create space for Brooks to run wild. The line was able to get to the second level to make sure the linebackers are sealed off so that Brooks could run up the gut for big chunks of yards.

Humphrey was able to win his one-on-one battles as they had different guys lined up over him, he and the rest of the interior were able to stop some of the blitzes WVU at them when they tried to create pressure.

Oklahoma had arguably the best offensive line last year and despite some defections to the NFL, they remain one of the nation’s elite. They’ve been Murray’s personal protection unit all season as he may be the team’s second Heisman winner in as many years. Further, they’ve shown no drop off despite losing Rodney Anderson to injury and later Trey Sermon. Not many teams would be able to not miss a step on their third-string running back if not for the cohesive and dominating play by the Oklahoma offensive line.

Oklahoma will lean on the unit as they look to avenge their Week 6 loss to rival Texas on Saturday.