Taylor Wein sparks Oklahoma surge as SEC keeps rewarding Sooner defenders

During a two-week span without their best defensive lineman, the Oklahoma Sooners have still been awarded for having the best defensive lineman in the conference.

OU defensive end Taylor Wein on Monday was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week, just a week after being awarded SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week. Also on Monday, defensive tackle Gracen Halton was named SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week, giving a Sooner the reward two weeks in a row, even while top player defensive end R Mason Thomas has missed the last two games with a quad injury.

Taylor Wein named SEC Defensive Player of the Week

Wein and Halton were both vital in the No. 8 Sooners shutting down No. 22 Missouri's offense in a 17-6 win on Saturday in Norman. Mizzou entered the matchup with the sixth-best rushing attack in the country and the nation's leading rusher in Ahmad Hardy, but the Sooners still held the Tigers to a season-low 70 rushing yards after averaging 242 in the games before.

The Sooners also sacked Mizzou quarterback Beau Pribula four times.

Wein was responsible for 1.5 of the Sooners' sacks, which was a career-high. He now has six sacks on the season, which is just half a sack behind Thomas, who leads the team with 6.5. Wein also posted a career-high-tying four tackles, two tackles for loss and a QB hurry against Mizzou.

Halton tallied a career-high-tying seven tackles, two tackles for loss, half a sack and a QB hurry in the win.

OU punter Grayson Miller was also named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week after kicker Tate Sandell had earned the recognition in two of the three previous weeks. Miller averaged 44.9 yards on his nine punts, with five of 50-plus yards, which was tied for the second-most in OU history, and four downed inside the 20-yard line.

Overall, the SEC has awarded Sooners with weekly honors 14 times so far in their second season in the conference. Three Sooners were also honored last week between Wein, Sandell and Eli Bowen.