Oklahoma football: Five reasons to be excited about a 2020 season
By Chip Rouse
Second season of Alex Grinch’s defense
Some would say the Oklahoma defense is the only reason the Sooners haven’t won a national championship in the last three years. There’s no question that Lincoln Riley wants to build a defense that will complement the team’s historically strong offense. He took the first step toward that goal by bringing in Alex Grinch as defensive coordinator last season.
It might not have looked like it on the field at times last season, but the season defensive numbers speak differently. Under Grinch’s leadership, the Sooners made dramatic improvement in both total defense and pass defense over the previous season.
The year before Grinch arrived in Norman, Oklahoma ranked 114th in the country in total defense, allowing 454 yards per game to the opposing offense, and dead last, 129th among FBS teams, in pass defense, giving up 294 yards via the aerial route per contest.
In one season under Grinch, utilizing virtually the same players, the Sooners were 38th in the nation in total defense (356 ypg), and improvement of 76 spots in the rankings and 100 yards per game. The OU pass defense also registered dramatic improvement, moving from 129th to 58th among FBS teams.
The incoming 2020 recruiting class will be Grinches first at OU as he starts to assemble the best players to fit his defensive system, and he will have a much better familiarity with the returning defensive players.