OU hopes to put tackling woes in the past
WACO, Texas — Iowa State's first touchdown last week wasn't a flashy play.
Tarique Milton caught the ball behind the line of scrimmage and quickly found himself one-onone with Oklahoma freshman corner back Jaden Davis.
Milton ran right through an attempted Davis tackle and soon enough was in the end zone.
It was one of 13 missed tackles by the Sooners in that 42-41 victory, according to numbers provided by PFF.com.
Turnovers, or more aptly the lack of turnovers, have been a major focus for OU in recent weeks. The So one rs haven' t officially had a takeaway—Parnell Motley's interception last week doesn't count since it happened on a 2-point conversion — since late September against Texas Tech.
And while the inability to create turnovers remains a big focus for Oklahoma heading into Saturday's game at Baylor (6:30 p.m ., ABC ), tackling is also now in the crosshairs a well.
Could the emphasis on forcing turnovers have hurt what had been a solid tackling team up until last week?
“Not a t a l l , ” s a i d s a f e t y Delarrin Turner- Yell when asked if there was a connection. “It's going to boil down to us being able to do our job and just continuing to do the things that we're coached to do. As l ong as we're f l ying around and getting to the ball we're going t o get t he ball out.”
But even that answer shows how much forcing turnovers has been emphasized.
Sooners defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said the problems weren't necessarily connected.
“To dumb i t down to one thing it's space and speed,” Grinch said. “Some of those i nstances by and l arge you saw guys in an attempt to take away the space between him and the ball carrier, I thought more so this time out than in the past were out of control. It's one thing, again, space eliminate that with speed. But at or near the point of contact get yourself under control. That's fundamentals and i t comes back to coaching.”
Sooners coach Lincoln Riley admitted this week that some of his defenders were pressing too much when it came to turnovers, leaving them out of position and ill-prepared to make a tackle.
“We've got a big team. A hundred and something guys, a lot of guys that play,” Riley said. “So what is one player's issue is not always this player's issue. So we've got some guys, I think, that are trying too hard and at times get out of the context of what we are doing schematically. We've got some guys that are kind of young and still trying to figure all this out.
Even after their struggles in tackling against Iowa State, the Sooners still rank as one of the surest tackling teams in the country.
Going into Saturday's game, Oklahoma has missed just 76 tackles defensively according to PFF.com. That puts the Sooners No. 16 nationally in the category.
But while the Sooners averaged a touch less than eight missed tackles per game in their first eight games, the 13 in last week's win is concerning.
But Riley said he remains confident in the defense, both tackling and forcing turnovers.
“I get it, you're always judged on your last performance,” Riley said. “We get it. That's what we signed up for. But I also remember those first seven, and those were those same guys and same coaches. And I'm excited about how we're gonna play in the closing stretch.”