Oklahoma football: Not a coincidence OU’s defensive decline started with Billy Bowman’s injury
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football coach Brent Venables announced last week that sophomore defensive back Billy Bowman’s return from injury would be sooner rather than later.
“Sooner” actually came on Saturday at Iowa State as Bowman returned to the field for the first time since being injured on the opening kickoff in the TCU game. Bowman went to the sideline after taking a hard hit returning the opening kickoff and did not return the rest of the game. Bowman’s injury was later described as a nagging knee injury.
Bowman missed the entire TCU game as well as the Red River Showdown with Texas and OU’s home game against Kansas.
In addition to returning kickoffs early in the season, Bowman was also arguably the Sooners’ best player on defense, and his absence from the lineup had a dramatic impact. A week after putting in a strong performance in Oklahoma’s 35-point win over Nebraska, the Sooner defensive unit struggled containing the run game and getting third-down stops in losing to Kansas State
Bowman played in the Kansas State loss, but the wheels were starting to wobble as the Sooners gave up over 500 yards of offense to the K-State offense.
Oklahoma headed to TCU the following weekend, and that’s when the wheels came completely off. Bowman was removed from the game on the very first play, and midway through the second quarter the Sooners lost quarterback Dillon Gabriel to the concussion protocol. Even before Gabriel was forced to leave the game, however, the TCU offense was absolutely destroying the Oklahoma defense.
TCU was already up 34-10 when Gabriel was forced out of the game, and that was in the first half. The Horned Frogs were able to do almost anything they wanted offensively, courtesy of an Oklahoma defense that allowed over 600 yards of offense and 300 both rushing and passing. OU missed tackle after tackle and TCU receivers were running wide open all over the field.
It was hard for Sooner fans to imagine how a defense that looked so good in OU’s impressive win over a not very good Nebraska team could look so dreadfully bad just two weeks later.
That same nightmare recurred the next weekend with both Gabriel and Bowman among those who were out or limited in action against the Sooners’ biggest rival, Texas. The Longhorns took full advantage and relished in running up a 49-0 score over Oklahoma in what will go down as one of the worst Sooner defeats in program history.
It is not a coincidence that the Oklahoma defense has better results across the board when Bowman is on the field. And the three games he was out, a major piece was missing.
“We’ve missed a really good player that makes plays. that communicates well, that’s one of our best players,” said Ted Roof in a weekly press briefing with reporters last week. “That’s part of the game.”
Bowman has only played in five games this season, yet he has 36 tackles, fifth on the team, and is fourth on the team with 22 solo tackles. The former consensus four-star recruit was recruited as an athlete and when asked, he agreed to change over to defense. He is credited this season with four pass breakups, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble. He seems to always be around the ball when he’s on the field.
It’s obvious the Sooner coaches are managing Bowman’s playing time upon his return as he continues to build strength and stamina and as much as possible prevent further injury.
Oklahoma played well — though not great — on defense in the win at Iowa State. In fact, the play of the defense had much to do with the Sooners gaining a 14-point victory over a team that had given up more than 14 points just one other time all season.
Bowman’s return will be a big lift to the Oklahoma defense as the Sooners attempt to finish out the season strong in their remaining four regular-season games.