Remember when the Oklahoma defense was so dreadful the Sooners' offense had to score almost 50 points a game to secure a win? How quickly we forget -- or want to forget.
That was just a few short years ago, but with head coach Brent Venables now in charge of the defense and with Oklahoma returning more than 60% of its defensive production for the 2025 season, the Sooners feature one of the best defensive units in the SEC, as well as nationally.
Oklahoma made major offseason changes and adjustments on the offensive side of the ball after winning just six games and finishing 99th in the country in scoring offense (24.0) and 113th in total offense (331.0 yards per game) last season.
The Sooners are expected to be much improved on offense this season under new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle's Air Raid offense and Arbuckle-disciple John Mateer pulling the offensive levers at quarterback. How much better remains to be seen, but with an experienced, healthier and deeper offensive line and with an array of talented new weapons on offense, optimism is running sky high.
OU's offense benefitting from stout defense
Earlier this summer, ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy ranked the Sooners as having the seventh-best defense in the country entering the 2025 season. The former Alabama quarterback, who led the Crimson Tide to the 2009 national championship, believes the Sooners have a good chance to be the most improved team in college football this season. And it's not just because of how good they will be on defense, he said, but because of how much better they should be on offense.
Everything appears to be falling in place nicely for the 2025 Oklahoma offensive attack to make major strides in performance over the pathetic output of last season. The fact that the revamped Sooner offense gets to go up against one of the best defensive units in college football every day in practice is a unique competitive advantage that can't help but make OU better in 2025.
"We're all chasing perfection, and that's really hard to do," Mateer told reporters last week on the eve of the start of fall training camp. "And this defense is really good, so that's going to challenge us even more."
#Sooners OC Ben Arbuckle: "I say it to our offensive staff all the time, I don't know who has it better than us. These guys [defense] are incredible. I find it as a competitive advantage that we get to go against these guys every day."
— Justin Churchill (@ChurchillAtoZ) July 30, 2025
On the offense vs. defense
The Sooners had the same competitive advantage on offense a year ago, getting to go up against a stellar defense every day in practice, but a pre- and in-season injury epidemic took a dire toll on the OU offense.
Now, fast forward 12 months and we have an Oklahoma defense that is good enough to be a top-10 unit nationally this fall challenging and prepping an already improved offensive group for what it is going to see navigating through one of the most difficult schedules in the 2025 college football season.
Just like the proverbial saying goes: "A rising tide lifts all boats." Or perhaps: "One hand washes the other." Regardless, if Mateer and the Oklahoma offense are as good as multiple experts have projected them to be this season, their Sooner teammates on defense can take some of the credit.
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