Don’t buy into the Sooners’ defensive improvement just yet
Mike Stoops started listing the ways his OU defense looks better through two games.
More effort. Better coverage by defensive backs. Improved suddenness, though I forgot to ask what he meant by suddenness. More violent speed, courtesy of freshmen phenoms Ronnie Perkins and Brendan Radley-Hiles. I didn’t have to ask what he meant by violent speed.
Then Stoops realized what all the questions implied.
“That’s the way it should be,” said Stoops. “I guess we’ve gotten so bad, it’s like, we did our job. Really? You’re making me feel like, what the hell was I doing for five years?”
Good question. Easy answer. Stoops has been trying to keep his head above water. Big 12 offenses can sink you quick and repeatedly have done just that to the Sooners.
Iowa State, which hosts OU today at Jack Trice Stadium, is Exhibit A. The Sooners last September went to Ohio State and held the Buckeyes to 16 points. Soon enough, though, Big 12 play started and the OU defense collapsed. Winless Baylor scored 41, then Iowa State pulled off a 38-31 upset with a quarterback who hadn’t played in virtually five years and every week became an adventure.
Now the 2018 Sooners have shut down Florida Atlantic and UCLA, offenses with snazzy coaches but rookie quarterbacks. This OU defense looks different. But is it?
“I think we’ve been tested,” Lincoln Riley said. “We know that in this conference, you’re gonna see great offenses. There’s no doubt about that. We’ll continue to be tested. But I think we’re better in the
front seven. We have to continue to grow there, stay healthy. If our young players continue to improve in the secondary, then we have a chance.
“I still think people on the outside forget that we’ve played a lot of good defensive games here the past few years. You don’t win three straight Big 12s and go to the playoffs twice playing no defense. We’ve had some games here and there where we haven’t played well. Sometimes those stand out in people’s minds. We’ve had some excellent games, too.”
Here and there is not an accurate description of OU’s poor defense. Here, there and everywhere has been more like it. The last two years, in particular, the Sooners have been mediocre among Big 12 defenses, by almost any statistical measure.
Riley is right. The Sooners look much better at linebacker. Curtis Bolton is making plays all over the field. Kenneth Murray is all grown up. The OU pass rush is more egalitarian – seven Sooners have combined for the eight sacks through two games.
The talent appears to be rising, which is at the crux of the matter. OU starts four defenders who are in their first or second year on campus. Radley-Hiles and Perkins appear to be the kind of defenders the Sooners sported in Stoops’ first go-round as defensive coordinator.
“I know every year we say we’re gonna be this type of defense, we’re gonna be this type of defense, but we want to show it this year,” Bolton said. “We’re tired of talking about it. I think things have been pretty obvious that we’re a different team this year.”
We’re about to find out soon. Big 12 play starts Saturday. Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/ berrytramel.