Last time Oklahoma faced Tulane, the Sooners barely escaped

The Oklahoma Sooners are 2-0 to begin the 2024 season. Year 3 under head coach Brent Venables started off with a 51-3 win over the Temple Owls and a 16-12 win over the Houston Cougars.

OU plays its third straight home game to open up the year on Saturday when they host the Tulane Green Wave in Norman. It’s the third of four non-conference matchups for Oklahoma, with the finale coming in November.

After a mostly encouraging 48-point win on a Friday opener against Temple, the Sooners struggled mightily on offense, escaping with the four-point win over Houston on Saturday. Oklahoma had just one full offensive drive that was productive, and they relied heavily on their defense and special teams to get the job done.

Tulane presents a much tougher test after the Green Wave almost defeated Kansas State last week. But Sooner Nation will likely have another near-upset on their minds as well as they watch this game.

Oklahoma and Tulane have met twice in their history, and both games have been played in Norman. The first meeting came in 2017, when the Sooners won in decisive fashion, 56-14. Oklahoma was on its way to a third straight Big 12 title that year during their run of six in a row.

The Sooners also made the College Football Playoff for the second time in three years (and the first of three in a row in the midst of four out of five) that year. One of the best offenses in college football history overwhelmed a Green Wave team that went 5-7.

However, the most recent matchup between these two programs was almost a disaster for OU.

In 2021, the season opener was supposed to be played in New Orleans, but it was moved to Norman due to Hurricane Ida. In the first sign of trouble in Lincoln Riley’s final season at OU, the highly-ranked Sooners couldn’t put the Green Wave away, barely hanging on for a 40-35 victory.

The game opened with a Spencer Rattler interception down the left sideline before the Sooners found their footing to jump out to a 37-14 halftime lead.

However, the Sooners took the foot off the gas in the second half and were outscored 21-3, as OU’s defense couldn’t contain Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt. After cutting the lead to five, the Green Wave recovered an onside kick with just over two minutes left, but Pratt’s run on 4th and 13 was stopped a yard short, and Oklahoma survived with the five-point win.

Fast forward to 2024, the Sooners don’t seem to have a defense that would surrender 35 points at home against Tulane. However, they certainly don’t resemble a team on offense that can put 40 points on the board, either.

A total of nine players from that 2021 team remain on the roster in 2024, and key leaders on this year’s team (especially on defense) certainly remember that afternoon three years ago and what Tulane is capable of as a program.

Even as Jon Sumrall takes over in New Orleans for the departed Willie Fritz (now the head coach at Houston), the Green Wave will be the best team the Sooners have faced so far this season.

Oklahoma has to get more production from their offense if they want to stay unbeaten heading into the final nine games of the regular season, eight of which will come against conference opponents.

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