OU defense needs extreme makeover
When you press Lincoln Riley about his el stinko defense, he falls back on OU’s record. The national semifinals last season. A 9-1 record this season. It’s a solid strategy.
“If being 9-1 is disarray,” Riley said Monday, “our defense has had a hand in winning all nine games.”
Sure. Like the four of clubs’ contribution to a hand of four kings. Like the river’s contribution to “Mona Lisa.” Like Quentin Tarantino’s acting in “Pulp Fiction.”
The Sooners’ second straight great escape — OU survived Bedlam 48-47 Saturday night a week after winning 52-46 at Texas Tech — keeps their College Football Playoff hopes alive but enforces more than ever the cold hard truth that even Riley knows in his heart of hearts.
After this season, it’s time to start over. Scrap the defense. Scrap the scheme. Scrap the practice protocol. Scrap the mentality. Scrap whatever coaches are in the way of a culture change. Scrap the defensive recruiting strategy.
Hard to fathom, but this OU defense might be the worst in the Big 12. It won’t finish there under any metric, but only because this OU defense doesn’t have to play
this OU offense, and the ragamuffin defenses in Waco and Stillwater and Lawrence do.
Riley won’t and shouldn’t admit that this OU defense needs a makeover much more extreme than the offensive renovation Bob Stoops commissioned from Riley in January 2015. Riley’s staff still has to coax this OU defense across the 2018 finish line.
But Riley knows it. “We’re not happy with how we played last Saturday by any stretch,” Riley said. “We gotta play better. But we are playing really good at some big moments. Those of us in those walls, we see the makings of being what we want to be. And we’re not that far off. We’re going to push like hell to get there.”
I believe they’ll push like hell. But not far off? They’re a thousand miles from good defense and a million miles from championship defense. They’re so far off, you can’t get there from here.
Heck, Riley’s the one who fired Mike Stoops five weeks ago. Riley shot off that flare hoping it would spark some life, but Ruffin McNeill’s comforting arms and Southern charm never can make up for missed tackles and lost containment and lack of ball skills.
Good night, this Sooner defense has been providentially blessed and still has been avalanched. Tech had to go to a backup quarterback at halftime. TCU had to go to a backup quarterback in the second quarter. Iowa State had to go with a backup quarterback the whole danged game.
“I don’t know if everybody remembers, we had a shootout (62-52) against Oklahoma State last year up there,” Riley said, “and we were one snap away from playing in the national championship game. We’re right on the doorstep of being where we want to be.”
That’s sort of the point. The Sooners were and are on the doorstep because of an offense for the ages. Because Baker Mayfield then and Kyler Murray are historically great quarterbacks who have produced at record-breaking levels.
Maybe Riley believes that golden offensive goose, a Heisman-caliber quarterback season, will become an annual Sooner staple. If so, carry on, and we’ll all pack nitroglycerin pills to every OU game.
But if not, a defensive culture change is required. 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.