Oklahoma football: Can Sooners shore up defense in time to throttle TCU, save season?

It was obvious from the disappointing Oklahoma football performance in the loss to Kansas State last weekend that the defense, which had shown solid growth in the first three games, is still very much a work in progress.

“We didn’t do much of anything good on defense,” head coach Brent Venables said after the Sooners’ loss in their Big 12 season opener. “We missed a whole lot of layups, especially on defense, and then we just got whupped way too often, too.”

That’s the reality of the game against Kansas State defensively, but the bigger question is what does what is now in the rear-view mirror in terms of the rest of the season bode for some even tougher challenges straight ahead?

Venables was asked this week by reporters if he was going to have to re-evaluate the team’s defensive approach and capability after seeing how Kansas State attacked the defense. “You handle it the same way every week,” he said. “You start completely over, whether you’re successful or not.”

Tearing everything down to the studs and building it back up again every week has been a constant message from Venables since he became the Sooners’ head coach.

The reality of the Oklahoma defense is it’s still “learning how to walk” under Venables.

In his weekly press conference earlier this week, defensive coordinator Ted Roof said the Sooners need to get back to creating havoc with greater physicality. OU played much better physically and with greater discipline against Nebraska and the results showed. Kansas State took that away, outmuscling and outsmarting the Oklahoma defenders.

Kansas State brought the Big 12’s worst offense to Norman, based on total yards per game, and yet the Wildcats managed over 500 yards against the Sooners. Now the Sooners are getting ready to face the Big 12’s third best offense to date, averaging 510.0 yards per game and a nation-best 8.1 yards per play. TCU quarterback Max Duggan leads the country in passing efficiency and completion percentage (77 percent).

This is going to be a serious test for an Oklahoma defense that obviously has a few flaws. And the road after TCU doesn’t get any better, with a bunch of good offensive teams to follow, including once hapless Kansas that is second in the conference in scoring and averaging 471 yards of offense through four games.

Kansas State converted 8 of 17 third downs last Saturday, and this Saturday OU will face an offense that has converted 50 percent of its third down attempts for the season. Getting third-down stops, though, was not just a problem last weekend for the Sooners. OU ranks 77th among FBS teams in third-down defense. Oklahoma’s opponents have been successful 39 percent of the time converting on third down.

The Oklahoma pass rush was excellent in the first three games and was a big reason the Sooners were able to hold the opponents to no more than 14 points. They weren’t as successful getting into the backfield against K-State, partially because of the respect they had for running back Deuce Vaughn but also because of the battle won in the trenches and on the edge by the Kansas State offensive line.

Sooner defensive ends Reggie Grimes and Ethan Downs had combined for 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss coming into the Kansas State game but were held to zero sacks and one tackle for loss against the Wildcats. The OU defense did record four quarterback hurries but for the most part was unable to apply much pressure on the K-State quarterback Martinez.

Downs told reporters this week after practice, including OU insider Ryan Chapman of FanNation, part of the Sports Illustrated Network, that he and his OU defensive teammates need to be more disciplined in their pass rush. Too many times in the K-State game the defensive line overran its rushing lane and allowed gaps to open up and allowed Martinez to do damage running with the football.

“Not being selfish, doing our job, complementing each other and staying disciplined is what we need to do,” Downs said.

“Everything that went wrong is my fault,” Roof said on Monday. “I’ve got to help everybody get it fixed. That’s what we’re going to do moving forward.”

“(Coach) Venables has an analogy,” Downs said:

"“We’re climbing a mountain, and the longer you’re climbing the mountain, the thinner the air’s gonna to get. So, as we’re climbing higher, every game this season the air’s getting thinner. It’s gonna get harder. But we’re gonna embrace that and keep trucking because we know what’s at the top of the mountain.”"

The next way station on that ascent is in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday.