It’s up to Oklahoma’s defense
Sooners’ elite offense can’t do it all
STILLWATER, Okla. – The quarterback was sitting on the floor in a narrow corridor, eating a plate of postgame barbecue, when the defensive coordinator happened by. Mike Stoops stopped and fist-bumped Baker Mayfield.
“I told you,” he said, “we’d get a couple of stops.”
But only a couple.
In a 62-52 victory over rival Oklahoma State that lived up to its Bedlam nickname, Mayfield and Oklahoma’s offense was very near unstoppable and looked every bit like a unit capable of putting up points — a whole lot of points — on anyone. But they had to be, because Oklahoma’s defense played every bit like a unit capable of giving up points — a whole lot of points — to anyone.
The Sooners will remain no worse than No. 5 in this week’s updated College Football Playoff Top 25, and they might well move into the top four. But the offensive-defensive dichotomy poses a bit of a dilemma for the selection committee.
The Sooners piled up 785 yards in another road win against a ranked opponent. But they gave up 661 yards and 52 points. In the second quarter, when the teams combined for 52 points, it was like watching a tennis match, only it wasn’t so much a sustained rally but as if the teams were trading smashed aces.
What to make of it all? Last Tuesday night, Kirby Hocutt, the selection committee’s chair, noted: “We talked about the offensive strength that Oklahoma has … but the selection committee has that same question about Oklahoma’s play on the defensive side of the ball.” After the shootout, there’s good reason for both impressions to be magnified.
“I really don’t care,” said Lincoln Riley, the Sooners’ first-year coach. “We won. … We’re not perfect. I’m not saying we are. We’ve got a lot of things to get better at. But we’re good at winning.”
There’s no arguing that. But are they good enough defensively to keep winning? How would it translate in the Playoff ? Mayfield insisted Bedlam was not just a Big 12 shootout but “two of the best teams in college football,” and he might be right. For certain, it was two of the best offenses. Maybe the two best.
Let’s be clear: Oklahoma’s defense is not good. The Sooners rank 75th and 87th nationally in scoring and total defense, allowing averages of 28.2 points and 413.1 yards, respectively.
But Stoops has an alternate theory: It might not be nearly as bad as the Big 12 can make it look.
“Trying to take away everything from these offenses is almost impossible,” Stoops said. “They’re so good.”
When it comes to the Big 12, what makes it different is the offenses, yes. There are defensive deficiencies, no doubt. But how much of that is magnified by the threat level, week in and week out, of those offenses? Stoops’ contention, at least partly, is that the stats are skewed because Big 12 defenses are stretched until they break in ways that their counterparts in many other conferences don’t face.
There is no other conference where as many dangerous offenses lurk. That’s not the case in the Southeastern Conference, where the muddy middle doesn’t feature an offense that scares anyone.
“It’s ridiculous,” Stoops said, speaking specifically of the idea that the Big 12 doesn’t play defense. “That’s an unfair bias. And I’m not — shoot, we’ve got to play better than that. … I laugh at people. I say, ‘You don’t face what we face.’ Look what happens when they do?”
He has a point. But we’ve seen the receivers running free behind the secondary, the running backs blowing through holes created by the defensive schemes built to cover up the coverage problems.
Which in part is what makes the idea of Oklahoma in the Playoff pretty fun. Consider, for a moment, Oklahoma’s offense vs. Alabama’s defense, or Georgia’s. How much fun would that be?
Big Ten in big trouble
After two huge upsets, the Big Ten is in danger of missing the Playoff.
After Iowa’s stunning blowout of Ohio State and Michigan State’s slightly less surprising win against Penn State, the league’s best hope appears to be Wisconsin wins out.
Potentially even worse for the Big Ten: Michigan beats Wisconsin. Or a two-loss Big Ten East team (take your pick from among Michigan State, Ohio State or Penn State) beats Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.
At that point, the Big Ten has to hope for all kinds of chaos everywhere else.
Football four
1. Georgia — The Bulldogs controlled things against South Carolina and clinched the SEC East along the way. The threat level increases dramatically this week at Auburn.
2. Alabama — LSU was never in position to win, but the Tigers matched up physically with ’ Bama, which suffered apparently serious injuries at linebacker. The Crimson Tide looked less than immortal. 3. Notre Dame — The Irish put away Wake Forest early despite missing running back Josh Adams for most of the game. Up next, a showdown with Miami (Fla.). 4. Clemson — The Tigers won a tussle at North Carolina State. Three unranked opponents before a probable Atlantic Coast Conference title game matchup with Miami.