A vote of confidence
The Sooners had a defense that ranked 67th in college football this season, but OU head coach Lincoln Riley has the back of defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.
NORMAN — Lincoln Riley knows people are talking about defensive coordinator Mike Stoops in the wake of Oklahoma’s 54-48 loss to Georgia in the Rose Bowl.
But the OU head coach also knows that he doesn’t have to listen to the tweets, message board posts and radio show call-ins.
“That’s part of this job,” he said to a small group of reporters in Norman on Wednesday. “I’m sure all of us are taking a beating right now. That’s the good thing, is people can say it, but I don’t have to listen to it. That’s part of how it goes.”
A month after OU’s defense held TCU to 17 points in the Big 12 title game, the Sooners gave up 317 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns in Monday’s double overtime loss.
The Sooners were the only playoff team without a top-10 defense, ranking No. 67 in total defense by giving up 394 yards per game.
“Mike is a really good coach,” Riley said. “I have a lot of confidence in him as I do our whole staff. To do what this staff and this program did this year with all the changes and all that, it’s unprecedented. People better remember that too.”
OU’s defense didn’t win a national championship, but Riley pointed to his team’s performance in the Big 12 as a measure of the unit’s success.
In conference play, OU was fifth in scoring defense, giving up an average of 30.1 points per game. It was also fifth in total defense, allowing 430.8 yards per game.
“We’ve won three of them, not the big one, but we’ve won three in a row,” Riley said when asked if his defense needed to be better to win a championship. “I think people have to look back at the last three years too. We’ve had three straight Big 12 championships, two playoff appearances and we’ve played in the Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls the last three years.
“There’s a lot that’s working too. No doubt. Do we need to get better? Yeah, of course we do. We need to get better on all sides of the ball. It’s about putting one team together that can give yourself a chance to win it, and we’ve done it here the last few years.”
To improve on the defensive side of the ball, Riley said, the Sooners need to continue to recruit better.
OU brought in seven Rivals four-star defensive players in the 2017 class, including middle linebacker starter Kenneth Murray.
In the December early signing period, OU inked five four-star defensive players. Some, like defensive ends Jalen Redmond and Ron Tatum, have a chance to make an early impact.
“I think a lot of that is going to improve with recruiting,” Riley said. “That’s always the biggest issue. You look on the field with the two defenses (Monday night) and one of them looked a little bit different than the other just physically. We’ve got to continue to grow in that area. I think we’re starting to.
“The young guys that have contributed this year, and you take the guys that we just signed and we’re getting ready to sign some other pretty good ones here, I think that’s getting ready to happen.
“We’ve got coach better, we’ve got to play better and we’ve got to recruit better. That’s how you take steps forward on all three sides of it.”