OU's defense: The good, the bad through 4 weeks
It’s hard to complain about where things are for Oklahoma heading into the bye week.
The Sooners are 4-0 after a win over Auburn in the SEC opener. The defense has been one of the best in football, while the offense has showed more explosiveness with the additions of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer.
But what have been the early results for the Sooners’ defense? Earlier this week, we took a look at the offense. Here’s a look at the good and the bad for the defense through the first four weeks:
STATS
Total defense: 207.5 yards per game (fourth nationally), 3.71 yards per play
Scoring defense: 9.0 points per game (8th nationally)
Rushing defense: 89 yards per game (21st nationally), 2.97 yards per rush
Passing defense: 118.5 yards per game (seventh nationally)
THE GOOD
The defensive tackles
It was largely seen as the strength of the Sooners’ defense — maybe the entire team — coming into the year. But the defensive tackles have been even better than advertised.
The quartet of Jayden Jackson, David Stone, Gracen Halton and Damonic Williams has been devastating to opposing offensive line. That group has combined for 39 tackles, nine tackles for loss and five sacks. They’ve largely been interchangable, as all four of them have played between 96 and 115 snaps. The Sooners have a true rotation in the middle, with no drop off in production or impact.
But the most important development? Stone hasn’t just assumed Da’Jon Terry’s role from a year ago as the fourth defensive tackle. He’s having a true breakout sophomore season, leading the entire group in tackles with 13 while adding two TFLs and a sack. He has the third-highest defense grade (84.9) and the best run-defense grade (89.0) on the entire team, per Pro Football Focus. He’s already played more snaps (115) than he did a season ago, and he hasn’t even started a game yet. Stone and Jackson have already established themselves as two of the best defensive tackles in the SEC.
For the Sooners to live up to their potential as the best defensive line, Stone had to take a step forward. He’s done that and more.
Negative plays, timely stops
The interior — and the defensive line as a whole — has played a huge role in several key categories.
The Sooners rank inside the top 25 in both rushing defense and yards per carry. The Sooners rank fifth in tackles for loss, averaging over nine per game.
That’s happened despite playing two of the best rushing offenses in the country in Auburn and Michigan. Auburn running back Jeremiah Cobb finished with 61 yards on six carries — that includes a 44-yard run — as the Tigers didn’t really try to feature him in the offense.
When opponents have been forced to throw, they’ve found little success. A big reason? The Sooners are tied for second nationally in sacks (16) after logging nine against Auburn, which tied a school record. 12 different players have contributed to a sack.
All of that has culminated in arguably the most important staff for this defense. They rank first in third-down defense, as opponents have converted just 17.9% of their attempts (10/56). Auburn and Michigan combined to go just 6/29 on third down.
The Sooners have gotten timely stops by creating negative plays, forcing their opponents off schedule, then capitalizing.
The bad
Explosive plays
It’s all been mostly good for the OU defense, which ranks near the top in essentially every statistical category. One slight area of concern, however, has been allowing explosive plays.
The Sooners have been good at limiting opponents, as they rank 12th in plays of 10-plus yards. But they’ve been susceptible to big plays. They’ve allowed five plays of 40 yards or more, which is tied for 97th nationally. Jackson Arnold hadn’t completed a pass longer than 32 yards through his first three games, but completed two plays of at least 40 yards against the Sooners in the first half, and narrowly missed on a handful of others.
Most of those long plays have come through the air, and the Sooners are expected to get cornerback Eli Bowen out of the bye week, which should help. But they’ll face more explosive offenses as the season goes, and the explosive plays have been a slight issue.
Lack of turnovers
The Sooners are the only FBS team that has yet to force a turnover. That seems unthinkable for a Brent Venables unit, considering OU forced 46 over the last two seasons.
The opportunities have certainly been there. They had two in the first half against Auburn. Peyton Bowen just couldn’t reel one of them in, and Kendal Daniels let a tipped pass sail right through his hands. It’s almost impressive how stout the Sooners’ defense has been without the takeaways.
But Venables certainly knows that the opportunities have been there. As the schedule tightens up, it’ll be crucial that the Sooners take advantage of them.
“I feel like teams have been very conservative against us in the way they’re playing,” Peyton Bowen said Thurdday. “So we just can’t force nothing. We’re playing great defense. The turnovers will come and whenever we need them, we’ll get them.”