Oklahoma football: Days of debunking the defense may be done

The final score of the Oklahoma football win over UCLA on Saturday will indicate another offensive blowout, but the truth is the victory margin overshadowed another outstanding effort by the oft-criticized Sooner defense.

The yards allowed by the Sooners (383 total yards) to a young UCLA offense with a true freshman quarterback making his first career start were misrepresentative of how well the OU defensive unit played as a whole for three-quarters of the game.

Entering the fourth quarter, Bruins had been held to 213 total yards of offense and just seven points. UCLA scored 14 of its 21 points in the game on 170 yards of offense in the final period, when the game was already well in hand for Oklahoma, with the Sooners up 42-7.

The Sooner front seven was stellar in stifling the UCLA rushing attack. Oklahoma limited the Bruins to 98 yards on the ground through three quarters and 129 yards for the game. To put that into perspective, the Sooners ranked 54th in the country last season, allowing an average of 157 rushing yards per game.

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More importantly, though, the OU front seven allowed almost five yards per rushing attempt a year ago. UCLA ran the ball on 50 of its 76 total plays in Saturday’s game, but was held to just 2.6 yards per carry.

The Sooners’ pressure around the ball on UCLA run plays was relentless. Oklahoma recorded 12 tackles for loss, including four quarterback sacks of Bruin QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson. It was clear that OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops’ game plan was to bring pressure all afternoon in an attempt to rattle the young UCLA quarterback. Their effectiveness in doing so was impressive and something that has been missing the past couple of years and a factor in the Sooners’ recent defensive problems.

"“We had some pressures from different people, where, in the past, it’s been pretty much “Obo” (Okoronkwo) or nothing,” said head coach Lincoln Riley about OU’s defensive effort in his postgame press conference."

Stoops had a lot of good things to say about his defensive unit, as well:

"“Our D-line continues to play well, and I thought our first group played really well for three quarters,” Stoops said. “I thought we pressured them, held the line of scrimmage well and got penetration well, so those are always good signs.”"

The Oklahoma defense will get another test next weekend, when the Sooners go on the road for their Big 12 opener against Iowa State.

The fact that the Cyclones handed the Sooners their only defeat in the regular season last year will provide some added incentive. If Oklahoma is going to avenge that loss, however, the Sooners are going to have to do a better job on defense than the 449 yards they allowed in last year’s contest in Norman.