Oklahoma football: Defense is OU’s diamond in disguise in 2021 season

In the College Playoff era, Oklahoma football has been good enough to get there, but overmatched when it did.

With a high-powered offense that under Lincoln Riley has been one of the best in college football, the Sooners have had no trouble putting plenty of points on the scoreboard. But they have had trouble getting defensive stops and keeping their opponents out of the end zone.

And that’s proven to be Oklahoma’s Achilles heel when it has reached the College Football Playoff.

When you think of Oklahoma in the current time and place of college football, the thought immediately goes to powerful, high-scoring offense that places its bet on outscoring everybody. The problem with that picture is, when you get into the postseason and the matchups are generally more competitive than in the regular season, it’s not practical to think that you are going to be able to win games based on your offensive firepower alone.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

For the past two seasons, or since Alex Grinch joined the Sooner coaching staff as defensive coordinator, a major remodeling project has been underway on the defensive side of the ball.

There is a lot of excitement and high optimism in the Sooner Nation, and increasing recognition in the media, that the Oklahoma defense has improved its level of play to the extent that the Sooners are a more balanced, complete team than they’ve been in over a decade.

With better balance between offensive and defensive strength and more opportunity to play truly complementary football, there is strong believe that this OU’s best chance yet under Riley to not only make it into the College Football Playoff, for what would be the fourth time in the last six seasons, but make it past the semifinal round and play for an eighth national championship.

The teams that have played in the last five national championship games have made it that far not just because of their ability to move the ball offensively and put points on the scoreboard, but because of the ability to stand strong defensively. get third-down and red-zone stops and create offensive from defense with turnovers.

The Sooners have improved their talent level on defense in Grinch’s two previous seasons, and they return 11 players with starting experience, plus one or two years in Grinch’s defensive system. This coming season will be the deepest OU has been in the defensive unit in years.

Last year the defensive line was probably the deepest position group on the team, and it looks like it will remain so in 2021. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has improved the talent and depth at the linebacker position. The depth and versatility of the front seven on defense may be the biggest defensive development since Grinch arrived.

The Sooners have also added size and length in the defensive secondary, one of Grinch’s primary goals when he took the job as the new Sooner DC.

The year before Grinch arrived, in 2018, Oklahoma ranked 114th out of 129 FBS teams in total defense. Last season, the Sooners were 29th in total defense and 26th in average yards per play allowed.

The Sooners also finished in the top 10 nationally in sacks, third-down defense and run defense. Those aren’t numbers from a bad defense; those are impressive metrics from a defense that has incorporated speed and a more aggressive style of play under under Grinch.

All of this adds up to a defensive unit that appears primed and ready to become relevant again and is the missing piece to the puzzle in positioning Oklahoma, not as a wannabe, but as a legitimate national title contender.