There is a new starting quarterback in Oklahoma football in 2020 — what else is new? — which would be cause for concern on most college campuses.
With the quarterback being the central figure around which the offensive game plan is built, it is easy to assume that a high-powered offense like Oklahoma’s would naturally take a step back when someone new steps into the starting role for the first time.
That might normally be the case, but this is clearly not a normal time, with the ravages of a COVID-19 pandemic having altered everything about our daily lives this year, and the Oklahoma offense has not suffered a lick with having a different starting quarterback in each of the last three season.
Some would argue that it doesn’t really matter who the OU quarterback is because Lincoln Riley’s offensive genius and creativity puts the quarterback in a position to capitalize on his strengths and ultimately to succeed. This does not mean, however, that just anyone can step into the role. You don’t become a top-five offense nationally with average talent at quarterback.
Oklahoma didn’t earn its recent reputation as “Quarterback U” in college football because of plug-and-play QBs who thrived because of the system they were in irrespective of the skills they possessed.
The three previous OU starting quarterbacks who have worked under Riley have all possessed well-above-average talent, a level of performance that was superlative enough to earn them a pair of Heisman Trophies and a Heisman runner-up selection.
Spencer Rattler, the presumptive starter in 2020, is the first home-grown Sooner starter at quarterback in the last five seasons. The previous three starters at the QB position — Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts — all transferred into the program.
Rattler, a former five-star prospect and the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2019 class, has high expectations to match that of his Sooner predecessors, but he has thrown just 11 passes and run the ball just three times in live OU game action. This might be a real concern at many other places, but not so much at Oklahoma, where Rattler will be complemented by the usual array of talented offensive weapons and an outstanding offensive line.
Oklahoma football destiny in 2020 is defense dependent.
Expect the Sooner offensive to continue humming at a high-performance level and continue putting plenty of points on the scoreboard. That’s just what it does, and 2020 shouldn’t be any different.
What will be different in 2020, and absolutely needs to be if Oklahoma is to take the next step as a national championship contender, is the Sooner defense in its second season under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.
Last season, when Grinch installed his “Speed D” defensive scheme, looking for more speed and more aggressive plays on the ball in an effort to create more takeaways, the Sooners had to go through a learning curve and adjust to a different philosophy and a different defensive system with little change in personnel.
It took a little time, but the Oklahoma defense did make measurable improvement last season — allowing fewer passing yards and nearly 100 fewer yards of total defense per game that it did the year before.
The Sooners were dead last nationally in pass defense in 2018, allowing 294 passing yards per game. OU improved to 58th in the country last season, allowing 72 fewer passing yards per contest than the previous season. In the category of total defense, Oklahoma improved to 38th among FBS teams from 114th in 2018, giving up 356 yards on defense compared to 454 in 2018.
One year into his role as defensive coordinator, Grinch acknowledges that there is still a lot to work on and “things we’ve got to get corrected,” but he generally liked what he saw after the Sooners’ first scrimmage of the 2020 preseason training camp.
Although it’s been a year without typical spring practices and a full offseason of work, which amounts to abbreviated preparation time, and with the giant cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic hanging over everyone’s head, Grinch sees the defensive unit becoming more comfortable in their individual and collective roles and coming together more as a cohesive unit.
“You see a defense that guys understand where they need to be,” said Grinch in a Zoom conference call this week with reporters and cited in an article in The Oklahoman. “You see guys playing with tremendous effort.”
Grinch continues to emphasize the importance of creating more takeaways. As a point of comparison, Oklahoma’s national championship team in 2000 was credited with 33 takeaways, and the Sooners averaged more than 30 takeaways over the next three seasons. The past two seasons combined (2018 and 2019) Oklahoma has totaled just 22 takeaways.
Tackling has been a problem area for the Sooners in recent years, and Grinch was not happy with the tackling in Tuesday’s scrimmage. “To be expected,” he said, “but by the same token, let’s not make excuses. That’s something we obviously have to attack.”
With three weeks to go before the 2020 season opener with Missouri State, Grinch knows there is still a lot of work to do to get the Oklahoma defense ready for the 2020 season, but he has to feel good about the progress that has been made since a year ago at this time.
It’s no big secret that defense is the one area that is holding the Sooners back from achieving their ultimate goal: winning another national championship.
The Oklahoma offense has been spectacular and the defense has been just good enough to earn them three consecutive College Football Playoff appearances. The sad thing is, had it been even an average defensive performance in at least two of the past three seasons, the Sooners probably would have been playing for the national championship.
Defense will be the determining factor if the Sooners are going to win a sixth consecutive Big 12 crown in 2020, make it to a fourth consecutive College Playoff and, above all, win a game once they get there.