How are the Sooners moving on from special teams miscues against Michigan?
NORMAN — The Sooners took care of business last Saturday against Michigan. John Mateer made enough explosive plays offensively and the defense mostly stifled the Wolverines en route to an 11-point win.
If there was one glaring issue, it was on special teams.
The Sooners committed several miscues in every facet of special teams, which prevented them from taking control and kept Michigan in the game. It was unusual performance from OU special teams coordinator Doug Deakin and his group, which ranked 34th in efficiency a season ago and typically played mistake-free.
Despite the miscues the Sooners were able to snag a marque win at home against a ranked team, but OU head coach Brent Venables knows the special teams units have to be better moving forward. He addressed them during Tuesday’s press conference, starting with Sammy Omosigho’s roughing-the-punter penalty that gave Michigan a first down late in the second quarter.
“First of all, on the roughing the punter, we showed (Omosigho) all of our drill work,” Venables said. “Doug had pulled up his drill work. We didn’t do that in our drill work, finishing in front of the punter. You take it off of his foot. If you’re late, then you gotta bust by to his outside, and if you’re right on time, from an alignment standpoint, you’re taking the edge of the shield, you’re trimming it back nice and tight. Then finish in front of the punter.
“So went back and just really intercut it, show him what to do, gotta take it to game day.”
One of the mistakes came from Isaiah Sategna, who muffed a punt near midfield that eventually led to a Michigan field goal in the third quarter. Sategna was the primary punt returner during his last two seasons at Arkansas and showed plenty of experience in that role, though he did muff two punts in 2024.
“Isaiah, he’s been pretty good so far,” Venables said. “You just go back to the basics of catching the ball, getting people out of the way. Some of the communication things, we’ve gotta be better there.”
The Sooners did get a solid outing from Grayson Miller, who averaged 47.8 yards per punt in Jacob Ulrich’s absense with a hamstring issue. Venables noted Miller did a “fantastic” job and also complemented the team’s punt and kickoff coverage.
But the biggest issue came in the second half, when Tate Sandell missed a 42-yard field goal that would’ve given the Sooners a two-score lead. Sandell eventually made a chip shot late in the fourth quarter that helped seal the win, but it was a concerning miss, particularly with the Sooners’ field-goal struggles in 2022 and 2023.
“(We) gave up some leakage on our field goal,” Venables said. “(OU offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh) pulled up the 2015 playoff game against Georgia in double overtime where we had a field goal blocked that kept us out of the national championship game. He talked the team through that yesterday and why it’s so important. The basics are what win for you, the basics are also how you get beat. It’s the little things, never the big things.
“It’s always the little things. It’s trimming the fat on the punt block with Sammy, it’s doing the right things on field goal protection — not putting two hands down on the inside gap — it’s 101.”
However, Venables noted that the Sooners made those mistakes and still won the game. There’s reason for optimism that things will improve moving forward, especially with Deakin’s track record as a special teams coordinator. Deakin’s units at San Diego State ranked inside the top 10 of ESPN’s special teams efficiency rankings from 2021-2023, and the Sooners showed significant improvement last season in Deakin’s first year.
But Venables knows those mistakes can’t happen, both this Saturday at Temple (11 a.m. CT, ESPN2) or in SEC play.
“You go back over and use these moments to teach,” Venables said. “We’re fortunate we won the game having made a handful of those mistakes, but there’s good and bad in all of it. This is an opportunity to get some things on film that you can coach from.”
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