3 Sooners Takeaways: Defense, Burks Shine; Offensive Line A Question Mark

The Oklahoma Sooners did what everyone expected them to do in Friday night's season opener: blew out a far inferior Temple team.

It is hard to complain when you hang 51 points on the board and hold your opponent to just 3, but it wasn't all pretty for the Crimson and Cream.

Here are my top takeaways:

New DC, same aggressive style:

As Brent Venables has worked to turn Oklahoma from a defensive laughing stock into a defensive stalwart, he has put an emphasis on forcing turnovers.

The Sooners ranked 7th in the nation with 26 takeaways last season, and they are off to a hot start this year. The Sooners forced and recovered four fumbles, with Jaren Kanak returning one for a scoop-and-score touchdown. Kani Walker and Jaydan Hardy each picked off passes to bring the turnover total up to 6(!). OU is experienced on that side of the ball, and new DC Zac Alley made it clear after the game: that group plans to be aggressive all season long.

Expect the Sooners to rack up a lot of takeaways this season, but beware -- jumping passing lanes and punching at the football sometimes leads to big plays for the other side.

Expect to hear 'Arnold to Burks' a LOT this season:

This won't come as a surprise to Sooner fans who watched sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold and transfer receiver Deion Burks connect for two deep touchdowns in the OU Spring game, but this duo may be even deadlier than we thought.

Deion Burks became the first Sooner to catch three touchdowns in a season opener, while Jackson Arnold became just the third OU QB to throw four or more touchdown passes in his first career home start (joining Spencer Rattler and Josh Heupel). Burks is an All-SEC caliber receiver that can beat you down the field, or can get open in tight spaces. He did the latter Friday, with all three touchdowns coming from inside the 15 yard line. With Jalil Farooq breaking his foot against Temple and requiring surgery, Nic Anderson still on the mend from an offseason injury, and Andrel Anthony getting his legs back under him less than a year after tearing his ACL, Burks is going to be the guy for the foreseeable future.

Arnold has what it takes to continue to elevate Burks's game, IF he has time to throw. That takes us to my final takeaway.

Offensive Line is still a HUGE question mark:

Sooner fans have become accustomed to watching their squad dominate up front offensively, with OU O-linemen seemingly heading to the NFL every season. This year, it is all fresh faces up front, and, at times, it felt like a rag-tag offensive line Friday night.

Transfer Center Branson Hickman left the game in the first quarter with an ankle sprain, and the drop-off up front was apparent. Arnold was sacked three teams, and hit on several other throws. Despite decent rushing statistics at the end of the game, the line was unable to reestablish the line of scrimmage against a second fiddle defensive line, making it hard for starting runningback Gavin Sawchuk to break loose.

If the offensive line is unable to make leaps and bounds throughout the next two non-conference games, Tennessee will punish the Sooners when the Volunteers come to town Sept. 21.