Much has already been made about the emphasis the Oklahoma Sooners are placing on the running game this offseason. Head coach Brent Venables has spoken about that commitment and mindset multiple times since last season ended, and OU has made moves this winter to become better at running the football.
Outside of the program, it looks like at least one major college football analyst agrees with that focus. David Pollack, the host of “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack“, discussed OU’s chances of returning to the College Football Playoff in 2026 on his Tuesday show.
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Pollack, formerly of ESPN’s College GameDay, thinks that the Sooners have what it takes to make it back to the CFP, but he elaborated on that point this week. While he has faith in returning starting quarterback John Mateer, he emphasized that the run game has to be much better, in order to help Mateer out offensively.
“Need to see that,” Pollack said. “I think Mateer can make plays, extend plays and do some good things. If you dictate to the defense a little bit more … It’s really hard to make plays down the field when they sit two high safeties against you the whole time because you can’t run the football. When you do get a little bit more run game and pop, now you make the defense commit more, be aggressive more. It opens up more plays.”
After Mateer’s hot start to the season in 2025, he cooled off after suffering his thumb injury. However, even when he was healthy, the OU offense was far too Mateer-centric to truly be the best that it could be. Without running back Jaydn Ott living up to the lofty expectations that were placed on him, Mateer was left to be the engine for the entire offense, even while recovering from thumb surgery.
Mateer and his quarterback coaches have spoken at length already this spring about the work he’s doing to improve as a quarterback, but with the OU roster pretty much set, Venables and Co. are focused on building up a running game to better support their redshirt senior quarterback.
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With leading rushers Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock returning, a revamped tight end room built with a focus on run blocking, and an offensive line that returns five players who played a lot last year (and added 2-3 more players who should see significant snaps this fall), the Sooners are going all-in on trying to fix their running game, and hoping to take some of the pressure off of their quarterback in the process.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: David Pollack believes Sooners can aid their QB with strong run game
