Defense is better, but not as good as it needs to be
For two consecutive years, bad defense has cost Oklahoma a legitimate shot at playing for the national championship.
The Sooners made changes to the defensive coaching staff last offseason, bringing in Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator, and Roy Manning to coach the cornerbacks. Grinch wants to play more aggressively on defense and create more takeaways. OU only had 11 total all of last season.
The Sooners are definitely playing more aggressively and moving to the ball better as a unit. They got off to a slow start in the takeaway department, but now have five through three games. That’s three more than they had at the same point a year ago.
Through three games, the OU defense is allowing 353 yards per game. That ranks 58th among FBS teams. The Sooners gave up almost 100 yards more last season and ranked 114th out of 129 teams in that category. We’ll get a better sample size, however, once the Big 12 schedule kicks in. So far, though, it appears that the defensive play is better and with more discipline than it was a year ago.