Oklahoma Football: Kyler Murray wows again win over Iowa State

3. Rodney Anderson isn’t going to be easily replaced

The loss of Rodney Anderson was announced in the week leading up to the Iowa State game. Anderson was able to pick up big yards against an elite Georgia team in the Playoff last season and was well on his way to another impressive season in 2018. Now he’ll miss the remainder of the year, and Oklahoma is going to feel his absence.

Marcelias Sutton left the game in the third quarter with an injury, leaving the Sooners with Trey Sermon and TJ Pledger in the backfield. Outside of Murray’s improvised running, the Oklahoma ground game was largely ineffective. Sutton, Sermon and Pledger combined to carry the ball 23 times for 94 yards and one touchdown. If that’s all they can do against Iowa State the odds of them making much progress on the ground against a Playoff caliber team aren’t looking good.

The differentiator between good programs and great programs is depth. It’s one thing to have blue-chip players on the starting line, it’s another to be three-deep with 5-stars with more on the way. Oklahoma doesn’t have the depth to survive one injury at running back. That was painfully evident against Iowa State.