Sooner Football: Will Offense or Defense Show Most Improvement in 2015?

Oklahoma enters August football training camp with many uncertainties for the 2015 season. The Sooner football program has undergone a number of changes in the offseason on both offense and defense, with the goal of improving performance on both sides of the ball.

Perhaps the biggest change is on offense. New offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is going to have the Sooners throwing the ball much more this season in an up-tempo Air Raid attack mode similar to the offensive style at Texas Tech.

That’s probably not all that surprising, given that Riley coached in that system under Mike Leach at Texas Tech, and last season, as the offensive coordinator at East Carolina, Riley’s offense ranked third in the country in passing yardage and fifth in total offense.

Oct 11, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Sterling Shepard (3) in game action against the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma beat Texas 31-26. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

One week into August training camp, the Sooners have not named a starting quarterback for the coming season. That position, of course, will be key for Oklahoma to be successful in executing Riley’s new pass-heavy offense.

Up to this point, the signals have pointed fairly strongly in direction of junior transfer Baker Mayfield – and, oh by the way,, need we remind everyone that he started seven games at Texas Tech his freshman year – but neither head coach Bob Stoops nor Riley is ready to commit to that, and neither has ruled out the possibility that both Mayfield and Trevor Knight could be used interchangeably.

Let’s hope the latter scenario isn’t the case, because, as they say, if you have two quarterbacks, you really don’t have one.

The OU receivers are going to have to be able to catch the ball, which they didn’t do all that good a job of last season. A healthy Sterling Shepard, along with newcomer Dede Westbrook, the No. 1-rated receiver coming out of the junior-college ranks last season, should greatly help alleviate the Sooners’ bumbling-hands problem securing passes in 2014, especially late in the year.

Durron Neal was the Sooners’ second-leading receiver last season with 42 catches. While the senior has looked very good at times, his lack of consistency has plagued him. Sophomores Michiah Quick, Jordan Smallwood and Jeffrey Mead all have strong upsides and looked good this spring. The new offense should also help elevate the game of all the OU receivers. It’s safe to say there are going to be fewer catches by a wider array of receivers, and that will be a plus.

Nov 22, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Samaje Perine (32) runs for a touchdown during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. He broke the ncaa all-time single game rushing record during the game. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The expanded Oklahoma passing game should also benefit the strength of the offense: the rushing attack behind last year’s Big 12 leader Samaje Perine plus addition Joe Mixon, who should also give the Sooners an additional speed element catching passes coming out of the backfield.

With greater offensive balance and plenty of playmakers on that side of the ball, the Sooners should show improvement on offense in the coming season and not have big issues moving the ball and putting points on the board.

As different and better the offense is expected to be in 2015, however, the bigger advancement for Sooner football, year over year, just may be on defense.

The Sooners are probably going to play a lot more four-man defensive fronts this season, but the real strength of the defense will be at the second level, where Eric Striker, Dominique Alexander and Frank Shannon will man the linebacker posts. If Shannon is able to come back after a year off from a suspension and play up to the same capability he showed in 2013, this group arguably is the best linebacker corps in the Big 12, and possibly in the entire country.

The defensive secondary was a major problem for the Sooners a year ago, yielding far too many passing yards and getting burned time and time again on deep routes. Outside of cornerback Zack Sanchez, an All-Big 12 first-teamer, the OU secondary was extremely lean on experience and suffered from bouts of untimely miscommunication.

Safety Steven Parker should be much improved after a lot of in-game learning his 2014 freshman season. He will be joined at the other safety spot by junior Ahmad Thomas. Sophomore Jordan Thomas will likely start opposite Sanchez at the other cornerback position.

Oct 11, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Zack Sanchez (15) in game action against the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma beat Texas 31-26. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t by coincidence that Bob Stoops, a coach with deep defensive roots, acted immediately after last season in addressing some of the problems that plagued the team in the back end of the defense.

Defensive coordinator Mike Stoops will no longer coach the defensive backs. That assignment now belongs to Kerry Cooks, who has joined the Sooner coaching staff after spending the past five seasons in the same capacity at Notre Dame. In addition, Mike Stoops will move to the press box next season to call defensive plays instead of operating from the sidelines.

When Oklahoma has won fewer than 10 games in a season under Bob Stoops – which has only happened four times in 16 seasons, mind you – the Sooners have rebounded the following season to win 13 (2000), 11 (2006) and 12 games (2010), and all fueled by strong defensive efforts. In both its national championship year in 2000 and again in 2006, OU was at or right at the top of the Big 12 in scoring defense and total defense.

One area of the defense that the Sooners must improve dramatically is takeaways. They had five more giveaways a year ago than takeaways, which is uncharacteristic of the better OU defensive efforts in the Stoops era.

All things considered, the marginal improvement should be better on the defensive side of the ball this coming season, if for no other reason than that the opportunity for defensive improvement is much greater than on offense, and this is an area of very high personal interest and expertise to the Stoops brothers.

We certainly know this: When Oklahoma plays stellar defense, the wins always follow. Mark this down: Defense will be the single most important determinant in the Sooners’ ability to follow historic form with another dramatic turnaround from one season to the next.