TOUGH ASSIGNMENT
OSU’s Knowles caught in snare of Big 12 offenses
While Mike Gundy’s defense was melting down in Waco, Texas, on Saturday, the man he fired last winter took a butter knife to a gunfight. And lived to tell about it.
Glenn Spencer, banished to defensive coordinator at North Carolina-Charlotte, was in Knoxville’s Neyland Stadium, where the 49ers lost to Tennessee 14-3.
The Volunteers are no SEC juggernaut. But Charlotte is a middling Conference USA team with little talent and no pedigree. And Spencer’s defense gave up 192 total yards and seven offensive points.
That’s not to say Gundy screwed up by replacing Spencer with Jim Knowles, the Duke defensive coordinator who built a solid reputation with a steady Saturday diet of Virginias, Pitts and Wake Forests.
It is to say that Spencer was a good coach caught up in the snares of Big 12 offenses.
“I’ve always said from the beginning of this, having been in the league, this happens,” Ruffin McNeill said Saturday night after his OU defense was pistol-whipped by Texas Tech. He was talking about the Mike Leach Air Raid, which at OU and Tech two decades ago ignited the offensive culture that has both blessed and cursed the conference.
McNeill at least left Lubbock with a victory, albeit it 51-46. The same can’t be said for Knowles, who left Waco a 35-31 loser, his defense having given up 181 total yards and 21 points in the last 15 ½ minutes, after Baylor’s starting quarterback, Charlie Brewer, returned from the injured list.
The beleaguered Bedlam defenses meet this Saturday in Norman, each with a coordinator hired in the last 11 months because the head coach just couldn’t think of what else to do. Such is life in the Big 12.
“I know, I know,”
Knowles said the other day when I asked him about the crazy football he signed up for. “Maybe you guys are finally converting me. I would never have thought that in the past.”
The numbers aren’t kind to Knowles. Gundy fired Spencer despite back-to-back seasons of OSU finishing fourth in Big 12 defensive efficiency. Now the Cowboys are eighth, about
a touchdown per game worse than the previous two seasons, and not far from dead last. In fact, expect OSU to be 10th this time next week, after Kyler Murray and Co. have their way with the OSU defense. Over/ under on the Sooner point total: 60.
With the season-long debate about Taylor Cornelius and OSU quarterbacking, defensive futility has stayed in
the shadows. Corndog has indeed been up and down. The OSU defense has been down and down.
Iowa State scored six touchdowns and kicked one field goal in 14 offensive possessions against the Cowboys, including drives of 75, 62, 56, 75, 75 and 61 yards.
Texas, even in defeat, scored five touchdowns in 12 possessions, on drives of 65, 75, 78, 59 and 75 yards.
Kansas State, with an offense straight out of 1956, scored four touchdowns and kicked one field goal in 10 possessions, with the TD drives covering 70, 62, 75 and 75 yards.
Even beleaguered Kansas dented the Cowboys, with four touchdown drives of at least 65 yards.
“I know in my mind how much better we actually need to do to become a defense that’s to be reckoned with,” Knowles said. “But it’s baby steps.”
In the Big 12, it’s not baby steps. That’s life.
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 FM98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.