Defense is new name of the game as Sooners transition to SEC-style game

There was really never any question that the high-powered way Oklahoma plays offense would pose problems for even the best defenses in the SEC. After all, the Sooners averaged 37 points a game in their losses to three SEC champions in three consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2017-19,

The problem was that the Oklahoma was seemingly defenseless in keeping its opponents out of the end zone. In consecutive playoff losses to Georgia, Alabama and LSU, the Sooners gave up an average of 55 points per game. Those three playoff losses prompted one national college football analyst to suggest that if Oklahoma had even an average defense during that time it might have won a couple more national championships.

That was 2019. Now, five years later, Oklahoma is getting ready to begin play as a new member of the college football aristocracy known as the SEC.

Under now third-year, defensive-minded head coach Brent Venables, there's been a course correction in Oklahoma football. With seven defensive players back who started the majority of games last season for a 10-3 Sooner team, including two preseason All-American candidates, the 2024 Sooners can play some defense. In fact, here's a statement that never would have been contemplated five years ago: Defense is the strength of the 2024 OU football team.

Let's be clear, though. we're talking about an Oklahoma offense that ranked 3rd in the country in total offense (507 yards per game and 4th in scoring (41.7) a year ago. The Sooner do have a new starting quarterback, with former five-star recruit Jackson Arnold taking over for the veteran Dillon Gabriel, as well as a wholesale makeover on the offensive line. But this team is still loaded with offensive playmakers.

It's really the offensive uncertainties and, in large part, the ridiculously difficult conference schedule -- which features six teams ranked ahead of the Sooners in the preseason polls -- that have Oklahoma pushed down to the No. 8 spot in the SEC preseason poll and No. 16 nationally in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls.

The SEC was once known as an immovable force on defense, but over the past couple of decades, SEC offenses have caught up with the teams and conferences like the Big 12 that prided themselves on high-scoring, high-octane aerial bombardment.

When Venables took over the reins of the Sooner program from offensive-minded Lincoln Riley, it was abundantly clear that if Oklahoma was going to have any chance of being relevant in the SEC, it was going to have to undergo dramatic changes in everything to do with the defense. That was the primary charge of Venables and his coaching staff over the past two years, and we began seeing the fruits of that effort last season.

It should be even better defensively this season, and ESPN analytics support that notion. In the ESPN SP+ rankings ahead of the 2024 college football season, Oklahoma's ranking within the SEC is much higher defensively than offensively. When was the last time you could say that about an Oklahoma football team?

ESPN officials describe SP+ as "a tempo and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football (not a resume ranking)."

According to SP+, Oklahoma's offensive efficiency entering the 2024 season ranks 17th on a national basis but is just 7th among teams in the SEC (behind Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri).

On the defensive side, however, the SP+ metrics rank the Sooners as 13th best nationally and 4th best in the SEC (behind just Georgia and Alabama and nearly comparable to Texas).

This is a strong positive sign of the defensive improvements orchestrated under Venables, which were absolutely imperative for Oklahoma to become a legitimate contender in a conference as strong top to bottom as the SEC.

A full comparison chart of how the SEC teams rank in offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency and on special teams is provided in an article posted by Sooner Wire.