Defense is impressive, but tougher foe awaits
NORMAN — In the second half of Saturday’s blitzkrieg of Western Carolina, with the outcome long removed from any doubt — not that there was ever much of any to begin with — OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch stormed the sideline.
“We threatened the guys in the second half that we’re going to run them if they scored a touchdown,” Grinch said after the Sooners’ 76-0 shellacking of the Catamounts. “The motivation was for those older guys to help those younger guys out.”
Western Carolina threatened that exactly once.
Early in the fourth quarter, with the starters already cooled down from their performances, watching the backups — and the backups’ backups — take on the Catamounts, Western Carolina drove inside the Sooners’ 30, then Carlos Davis broke off a 14-yard run.
But Ethan Downs, one of a large group of freshmen on the field on the drive, forced the ball out of Davis’ hands, Shane Whitter fell on it and the threat was snuffed.
It was one of three takeaways by the Sooners, all in the second half with the front-line players mostly turned into observers.
‘I thought the energy level was good with some of the older guys leading some of those younger guys that got opportunities.’
Alex Grinch OU defensive coordinator
“I don’t know if they were thrilled with the takeaways as much as they were just thrilled that the drive stopped,” Grinch said. “But I thought the energy level was good with some of the older guys leading some of those younger guys that got opportunities.”
Western Carolina’s offense was a far cry from the Tulane group the Sooners faced in the opener. They aren’t in the same league as Nebraska or any of the Big 12 offenses that Sooners will take on, even from the league’s bottom feeders.
But still, the Sooners’ defense showed improvement that could be seen regardless of the opponent.
There was less running around confused before the snap, leading to fewer busts, especially in coverage.
The Catamounts had just three plays of 14 yards or more, and none longer than a 21-yard pass on the second play of the game.
Western Carolina finished with just 178 yards of total offense, and just 55 rushing yards. The Catamounts didn’t escape a negative number of rushing yards for good until the fourth quarter.
“The whole week of practice, we practiced finishing, finishing, finishing,” Perrion Winfrey said. “Every play, every rep, just going in and doing what we needed to do, focusing on the fundamentals and realizing that everything else will come. It felt good to have a shutout. We wish we could’ve kept the rushing yards negative, but maybe next time.”
After the win — the Sooners’ biggest since a 77-0 thrashing of Texas A&M in 2003 that was national sports talk fodder the rest of that season — OU coach Lincoln Riley called Saturday’s game “a battle against ourselves.”
“We didn’t have some of the busts and the gifts that we felt like we gave them last week,” Riley said. “I thought coverage was tighter overall, and we just played more sound football. We tackled better, just did a nice job.
“I thought it was a pretty complete performance, certainly much improved in the execution of our scheme.”
The difference, Grinch said, wasn’t with him or Riley or the way the coaches worked with schemes or lineups or anything else.
“The thing that changed over the course of the last five days or so was our players,” Grinch said. “We prepared with intent. We were willing to do the hard stuff over the course of the week. You’re not always guaranteed to reap the benefits on Saturdays in that, but this time out we were.”
The Sooners played 31 players on defense in the opener. They played more than that Saturday night.
Now, the Sooners have to turn that improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 into progress the rest of the way, beginning next week against Nebraska.
“We know what’s coming in terms of the level of competition rises and that’s why you come to Oklahoma,” Grinch said. “The games are different. But to get a lot of guys playing time over the last two weeks has been good.”