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For Sooners, dubious starts with 'D'
by Steve Wieberg , USA TODAY
Harris was unmoved. "Pretty much what I thought, is they looked one-dimensional," he says of the player and team that now stand between OU and the eighth national championship in its storied football history.
This much, we know: The Sooners defense still has its swagger.
The question, going into Thursday's showdown with Tebow and the No. 2 Gators: Does it have the chops to back it up?
The reality of winning it all in major-college football is as cold and stark as winter on the Oklahoma plains. Twenty-nine teams have claimed at least a share of a national title in the last quarter-century, and none -- from Brigham Young to
Not one of those past champions gave up as much as the 359 yards and 24-plus points a game surrendered by OU this season. Every one ranked among the nation's top 25 in total defense, scoring defense or both.
These Sooners? They rank 63rd and tied for 58th, respectively.
Dinged by injury and exposed, on occasion, by youth, they couldn't hold an 11-point first-half lead against Texas and suffered their only loss 45-35. They surrendered 28 points in the first 22 minutes of their game at
"At the end of the day," argues Harris, one of OU's two first-team all-Big 12 selections on defense, "it's all about who wins and loses. That's what counts."
'Growing pains'
True enough. But Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford led a prolific Oklahoma offense that piled up 60 or more points in each of its last five games and became the first in modern college history to top 700 points in a season. That afforded defensive wiggle room.
Bradford now must throw into the teeth of the best pass defense in the SEC. And Harris & Co. must deal with Tebow and a balanced Florida attack that has averaged better than 49 points during its nine-game winning streak. The Gators (12-1) can win their second national title in three years.
Where lies the greatest give?
"They stress you in a lot of different ways," OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables says of Florida, whose loss was 31-30 to Mississippi. "But we've played some really explosive, high-powered offenses in the latter half of the year ... seven of the top 30 in the country. Florida's played one. It's about perspective."
He's not asking that you disregard OU's inflated defensive numbers. Only that you understand them.
The Big 12 was an offensive wonderland this season, a place where spreads and no-huddle schemes warped convention. Quarterbacks completed 66% of their passes, and the league's very best -- Bradley, Texas' Colt McCoy and
Oklahoma's no-huddle spread typically put opponents away early, and more than a fifth of the TDs its defense allowed -- eight of 38 by run or pass -- came in meaningless fourth quarters.
Venables' unit was further compromised by one of the nation's worst kickoff defenses, which allowed four returns for touchdowns and all too routinely gave away field position.
"Our first four games, we really dominated our opponents," Venables says. "Then we lost our middle linebacker (
"Nebraska, they scored a touchdown with less than a minute to go. (Texas) A&M scored 14 points off kick returns."
Yes, he gets a little ... uh, defensive.
This unit won't be confused with, say, the top-rated, Tony Casillas- and Brian Bosworth-led defense that helped OU to its 1985 national title. Or to the one that locked down Chris Weinke and
Venables acknowledges "growing pains" after Reynolds' loss. A defense with 11 freshmen and sophomores and four seniors in its two-deep lineup (and now loses backup tackle DeMarcus Granger to back surgery) has had mental lapses and surrendered some big plays.
Look beyond the scores, however, and there are indications the Sooners aren't so soft. They're 17th in the nation vs. the run, allowing 3.2 yards a carry and 106 a game. Their 42 sacks rank third behind Texas and TCU. They've forced more turnovers (32) than all but three teams and allowed opponents to convert only 63 of 189 third downs.
"It would not be wise for anybody to look at the numbers and think they're an average defensive team," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel says. "Because they're not."
The Tigers managed 60 yards rushing and 21 points, less than half their season average, against OU in the Big 12 title game. That came two weeks after an even more impressive shutdown: a 65-21 rout of
"There've been some wild games in the Big 12. Up-tempo no-huddles, all kind of different things," says Steve Addazio, who coaches Florida's lines and will replace departing Dan Mullen as offensive coordinator after the game. "But you watch them, their people on defense and the way they play. Watch their scheme and the way they're structured. It's a good outfit.
"I know what I'm seeing. We've played some pretty good teams in our league, and it's a good defense."
Make Tebow throw
Of course, so was South Carolina's. And
Tebow, as always, is the key. Oklahoma has seen a couple of effective tuck-and-run quarterbacks in McCoy and Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson, but the 2007 Heisman winner has a fullback's mentality and kick that's incorporated in the Florida running game. Defenses committing a defender to the extra runner risk exposure to the perimeter pass.
"We have to try and make him throw the ball, which he can do," OU free safety Lendy Holmes says. "But his comfort zone is running the ball."
Harris is blunt: "I don't think that they -- he -- can beat us with his arm." He isn't all bravado, though: "We're a little bit better than people give us credit for. But at the end of the day, we've got to come out and prove it."
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