Limited offense

The Sooners were somewhat limited in what they could do offensively. Adrian Peterson only had one carry for 1 yard and wore a blue “no contact” jersey.

Also, sophomore wide receiver Malcolm Kelly, who was OU’s leading receiver last season, missed the scrimmage to be best man at his brother’s wedding. And sophomore wideout Manuel Johnson sprained an ankle in the first series and didn’t return to the field. Stoops said the injury wasn’t serious. But having those three out made a difference.

“You’re missing some guys that are big parts in what you do,” Stoops said. “We realize that and we knew what we were going to work on today and what else is to come. We’ll keep progressing that way.”

Big plays missing

OU didn’t have a fumble Saturday, but offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson was disappointed with the lack of big plays.

There were only a handful of plays over 20 yards. Even without Peterson, Kelly and Johnson out, he thought there should have been more.

“We were close. We were a little out of synch a few times,” Wilson said. “We didn’t make the big plays we needed to and we have to be able to do that.”

Offensive line improves

OU’s biggest question prior to preseason practice was the offensive line. The unit struggled in the spring and gave up six sacks in the spring game.

Saturday night, the unit allowed just one.

Stoops thought their play might have been the most positive thing of the night.

“I was very pleased with their play at the line of scrimmage and their overall protection was solid,” he said. “They need to keep getting better, but they have shown a lot of improvement.”