Bedlam: Defenses strength of both OU, OSU
I ran into Kevin Wilson on Sunday night at the Thunder game. I asked him if he saw coming the Bedlam beatdown that resulted, 27-0 Sooners.
Wilson said his only concern was if OU’s offense could score enough. He figured the Sooners would shut down OSU’s offense. But he said something very interesting.
OSU's Zac Robinson (11) is taken down by Oklahoma's Keenan Clayton (22) and Jeremy Beal (44) during Bedlam. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
The strength of OSU’s team is its defense. Mike Gundy is the face of Cowboy football, and Gundy runs the OSU offense, and offense has carried the Cowboys for many years now. But in 2009, OSU’s defense is its best attribute.
Wilson said Bill Young has done a good job as OSU’s new defensive coordinator but offered another reason why the Cowboys have blossomed defensively: talented seniors. Andre Sexton, Patrick Lavine, Donald Booker, Perrish Cox, Terrance Anderson, Lucien Antione, Derek Burton, Swanson Miller and Jermiah Price. That’s nine solid seniors on the Cowboy defense. No real superstars, with the possible exception of Cox, but really good Big 12 players.
And indeed the OSU defense played well against Oklahoma. Not good enough. Especially with the OSU offense completely stuffed. Young’s crew needed an heroic performance to win Bedlam, needed to take the ball away from Landry Jones and Co. several times. OSU’s defense dominated the first quarter, but thereafter didn’t exert its well. The Cowboys needed more.
Same with the Texas game. OSU’s defense played a solid game against the Longhorns but got very little help from the offense and eventually ran out of gas.
Disappointing, but overall a solid trend for OSU, which had battled for defensive respectability for most of two decades. Of course, now the problem is replacing all those seniors that so impressed Wilson.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
OSU defense played well enough to win. Offense was ineffective. Zac was obviously still hurt and unable to run OR pass effectively. Gundy should have gone with Weeden, but Mike is often too reluctant to make a change.
I had to laugh out loud at one of the emails from last week. Can’t believe that guy went to a birthday party rather than watch the Sooners. And, heck, I would drive 1000 miles just to watch OU on TV…. even in the Blake years. I can’t wait to see the emails this week. Not much has changed except OU won. But that shutout does make next year look better. The reality is though, we probably won’t run the table next year either.
A team’s defense looks good in the first quarter, and they are considered to have played well for the whole game? Do you think they played well during OU’s 18-play drive that ate up more than six minutes on the clock? I’d say 14 of OU’s 27 points were not due to OSU’s defense – the touchdown that resulted from the interception and the touchdown on the punt return. That means OSU’s defense is at fault for surrendering 13 points against a depleted OU offense. The Sooners featured a player at right tackle who never played the position before Saturday. The whole offense line could be considered a total makeshift, and yet OU had little difficulty moving the ball, especially in the second half. There were many occasions Landry Jones had plenty of time to pass due to OU’s blocking coverage. Both Murray and Brown were successful running the ball due to holes opening up and good coverage on outside routes. If Bill Young is such a defensive genius, how come he couldn’t figure out how to be successful against an inexperienced offensive line?