In 2018, Oklahoma ranked No. 1 in college football in scoring and total offense. Flash forward six seasons to 2024, and that once Sooner offensive juggernaut has tumbled all the way to 97th out of 134 FBS teams in scoring and even further, to 113th, in total offense.
What's ironic about this is that when you look back in the rear-view mirror over that same time frame, it was the Oklahoma defense that was in similar straights and in a state of despair.
While the Sooners boasted the most prolific offense in college football in the 2018 season, the second under coach Lincoln Riley, the defense faced the same dire predicament as the offense does now.
The Oklahoma offense was hit by a perfect storm this past season -- injuries, inexperience, lack of consistency at key positions, plus a midseason change at offensive coordinator -- and, understandably, was the focus of attention and criticism.
All the while, the once much-maligned Sooner defensive performance was one of the few positives in what has to go down as a highly disappointing SEC debut season for the Crimson and Cream.
While the OU offense gets most of the credit for the conference wins over Auburn and Alabama -- because when you outscore your opponent, it's generally considered that the offense was the prime contributor -- I can almost guarantee you that those wins would not have happened without a superior performance by the defense. And instead of a 2-6 conference mark in the Sooners' first season in the SEC, it just as easily could have been a winless 0-8.
What a difference a couple of years make
Brent Venables might be fighting for his job in 2025, the result of two losing seasons out of the three he has been the Sooners' head coach, but he certainly can't be faulted for what he has done to turn around the dreadful Oklahoma defense he inherited from Riley.
Led by consensus All-American and Butkus Award finalist Danny Stutsman and All-SEC selection Billy Bowman, the Sooners finished this season ranked 29th among FBS teams in scoring defense (21.9 points per game) and 19th in total defense (318.2 yards allowed). That's an improvement of 72 spots in scoring defense and a 92-spot improvement in total defense between 2018 and 2024.
Venables was absolutely the right guy to orchestrate the defensive makeover. Now, he must show he can do the same with the offense and validate his hiring by OU officials.
Stutsman and Bowman have been the team leaders on defense for the past two seasons, but they are moving on to careers at the next level. And the team is also in search of a new defensive coordinator with the surprising departure of Zac Alley, who is joining the staff at West Virginia after just one season at Oklahoma.
That begs the question: Will the Sooners be able to sustain the success and level of defensive quality going forward that they've risen to over the past couple of seasons?
It's been almost two weeks since it became known that Alley was leaving the program, and little has been released about who the Sooners might be considering or how the search for the new DC is progressing.
Because we are now into the College Football Playoffs and four teams are still playing, speculation is beginning to surface that Oklahoma might be targeting someone from one of the remaining teams. Regardless, we should be hearing something on this soon.
Can Sooners sustain, continue to improve their defensive standing?
The short answer is, yes, this absolutely should be the level of expectation, especially with the right DC in place and with Venables' passion and reputation for defensive excellence.
Regarding the 2025 season, Oklahoma returns nine of 11 defensive starters. The Sooners will be joined by a promising group of defensive players in the Sooners' 2025 recruiting class, as well as a couple of defensive standouts who are part of OU's transfer portal pickups for next season.
Former Oklahoma State linebacker and safety Kendal Daniels crossed the Bedlam series divide, and their is strong speculation that the Sooners could be adding another former OSU starting linebacker in the coming days.
Daniels was second on the team in tackles this season with 68, along with 10.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and seven pass breakups.
Oklahoma has long been know for its firepower and explosiveness on offense, not so much for defensive excellence. That's not to say that the Sooners have not fielded outstanding defensive teams, but rarely did the OU defense outshine the team's offensive capability. That clearly was not the case in the 2024 season.
Defense was the strength of Oklahoma Team 130, and it's likely to continue as a strong point for the immediate future.