Oklahoma football: OU defense must stop bending to stretching point

One of the biggest criticisms of the top 10-ranked Oklahoma football team this season is an offense that hasn’t put up the points and flashy numbers it has in recent seasons.

That assessment is partially true, but it isn’t that the Sooner offense, behind preseason Heisman favorite Spencer Rattler at quarterback, isn’t capable of putting up points — OU is 15th in the nation, averaging 38.4 points a game.

Oklahoma is scoring on nearly 70 percent of its offensive possessions through five games. The bigger reason for the lower offensive numbers is the Sooners aren’t getting that many offensive possessions because opposing teams are taking the ball out of Rattler’s and the OU offense’s hands.

And that is more an Oklahoma defensive problem than an offensive one.

This past weekend, for example, Oklahoma had just eight offensive possessions at Kansas State and scored on seven of them (four touchdowns and three field goals). K-State had seven full offensive possessions and scored on four of them.

Although Oklahoma held leads of 27-10 and 34-17 in the second half, Kansas State was able to stay in the game and keep it close at the end because of its ability to keep its offense on the field for long stretches, which in turn keeps the Sooners’ high-profile offense on the sidelines.

Teams are clearly scheming to take away explosive plays by the Oklahoma offense and forcing the Sooners to be patient and put together long drives to score. OU has been limited to less than 10 possessions in each of its last three games. And teams are doing the same to the Sooners, manufacturing sustained drives that take time off the clock and keeps the OU offense off the field.

On Saturday, Kansas State had three first-half possessions that lasted 6:11, 4:31 and 8:49. Those three series consisted of 42 plays and consumed 19:31 of the 30-minutes in the opening half.

Only once the entire game at Kansas State was the Sooner defense able to get off the field in three plays. K-State was successful in converting 8 of 15 third-down plays, and the Wildcats came into the game with the full intention of making OU play four downs on fourth-and-short situations, regardless of where the ball was on the field. It was a good strategy, because K-State converted four of its five fourth-down situations.

Oklahoma’s last three opponents (Nebraska, West Virginia and Kansas State) are averaging 20.0 points against defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s Sooner defense. That’s generally more than enough against a Sooner team that has scored at least 27 points in 66 of their last 68 games.

The Oklahoma defense has had a number of outstanding plays this season, but they are coming in spurts and aren’t consistent enough to keep the opponent out of third-and-manageable, down-and-distance situations. They aren’t creating enough negative-yardage downs through sacks and tackles for loss.

The OU defensive unit is doing a stellar job through five games stopping the run. No opponent this season has reached the 100-yard level in rushing. Where the Sooners are getting killed, however, is defending the pass. Pass defense has long been a troubled area for Oklahoma, especially in defending long, athletic receivers. The Sooners are giving up 241 yards per game through the air. Only Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech are worse in that category than OU.

The Sooners do have 15 sacks on the season, but they are still allowing quarterbacks too much time to get through their reads and find open receivers. Missed tackles and yards after catch have compounded the problem.

Yes, the Oklahoma defense has better talent, depth and experience than in previous years and takeaways are coming more frequently, but it has evolved into more of a bend-but-not-break defense. Grinch has said from his first day on the Sooner coaching staff that the No. 1 job of the defense is to get the ball back to the offense.

That can’t happen when the opponents’ are allowed to grind out yards and time off the clock with lengthy, sustained offensive possessions. In the last three games alone, the Oklahoma has defended 25 offensive possessions, not counting kneel downs at the end of the half or game. Eight of those possessions have gone 10 plays or longer, and the same number have been more than five minutes in length.

This is something the Sooners need to get corrected and quickly, with the most difficult stretch of the season in the weeks straight ahead.