Tulsa’s 38 Points vs. Oklahoma Is Not an Indictment Against Tennessee

The Tennessee Vols should not worry about the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes scoring 38 points against the Oklahoma Sooners, even if they were held scoreless for a half.

On the surface, it looks terrible.

A week after beating the Tennessee Volunteers 31-24 in double-overtime and holding the Vols scoreless for a half, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes went into Norman and put up more than 600 yards of offense, scoring 38 points.

More from Vols Football

Even though they lost 52-38, Tulsa’s play really looked like an indictment against the Vols. How could Tennessee only muster 17 points in 60 minutes and be held scoreless for an entire half and the Golden Hurricanes do that a week later?

There are plenty of factors that relate to that.

We may forget, despite their struggles last year with barely over 24 points per game on average and a 2-10 record, the Golden Hurricanes averaged over 400 yards a game.

Now they have brought in Phillip Montgomery to install the Baylor offense, and his teams scored 40 points their first two games, so this is an elite offense.

This does not mean Tulsa’s offense is better than Tennessee’s. But it matched up better with the Oklahoma Sooners.

The reason Tennessee struggled is because the extremely young offensive line had so much trouble with Oklahoma’s complex 3-4 scheme. Montgomery brought his offense to an offensive line that is extremely experienced, returning four starters including three who have started at least two years.

The Vol offensive line is better, but playing Oklahoma this early was a terrible matchup for a unit still learning how to block against complex schemes.

Tulsa is seasoned in that, and that is why they were able to score so much. This is not an indictment against the Vols or their skill players, so Tennessee fans need not worry.

This is a Tulsa team that is very experienced, runs a high-powered offense, has a veteran line to understand complex schemes, and was going up against an Oklahoma team that clearly did not care too much about this game, sandwiched between a thrilling overtime victory on the road against a ranked team and then the start of Big 12 play.

Everything that happened with the Vols offense in their loss to the Oklahoma Sooners had to do with inexperience on the offensive line. Joshua Dobbs struggled but had no protection.

Jalen Hurd was still awesome.

Tennessee at least moved the ball on the Sooners. Mike DeBord and Butch Jones were not awful with their playcalling.

They just have to get more experienced on the offensive line and avoid mistakes, which will come with more development.

The Vols will be fine.

The Tennessee Vols should not worry about the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes scoring 38 points against the Oklahoma Sooners, even if they were held scoreless for a half.

More from All for Tennessee