I sure do miss defense in college football. Seems like everywhere you look, in any league, offenses are just having their way.
So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when Tulsa racked up over 600 yards of offense and scored 38 points against the Sooners Saturday before last. Running the Baylor offense, the Hurricane picked apart the Oklahoma secondary.
Didn’t help that true freshman P.J. Mbanasor was thrown to the wolves at corner when Jordan Thomas was suspended for the game due to violation of team rules. But that can’t be an excuse. The secondary was just terrible.
But they aren’t alone. Look around college football. Gone are the 17-10 defensive battles of the past. You had better score 40 plus if you want to win in this the new age of the spread offense that is sweeping the college football landscape. It’s not just the Big 12 anymore. It’s everywhere. Big 10, Pac 12, even the SEC are all now lighting up the scoreboards. And I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.
The rules give the offense the advantage and that is the way the powers that be want it. High scoring fast tempo games are great for TV ratings.
The rules give the offense the advantage and that is the way the powers that be want it. High scoring fast tempo games are great for TV ratings.
The rules give the offense the advantage and that is the way the powers that be want it. High scoring fast tempo games are great for TV ratings. And television money runs the whole college football world.
So in that light, it’s hard to be too down on the OU defense when there isn’t a defense out there doing much better. But what the Sooners might have going for them is an offense that may be able to out score its opponents. As bad as the defense was against Tulsa, the offense was that good. Putting up 52 points should be able to beat most teams if the defense can just get a few stops to help.
Baker Mayfield followed up his 4th quarter Tennessee performance with a full game of stellar play against the Hurricane that saw him break the all time single game yardage record at Oklahoma.
The offense now seems to be clicking on all cylinders after a rough start to the season. And they will need to send it into overdrive this Saturday morning when Dana Holgerson brings his West Virginia Mountaineers to town in both team’s Big 12 opener.
The Mountaineers have always been able to score. And that is the case this season as well. They have put up over 40 points in every game this year.
Quarterback Skyler Howard has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes and running back Wendell Smallwood is averaging over 100 yards a game rushing so far.
But now they might finally have the defense to complement that high scoring offense. Through 3 games the West Virginia defense is the No. 1 rated defense in the country in points allowed.
They also have 11 interceptions to go along with that No. 1 ranking. Now I know this has not been against stellar competition, but it is impressive none the less. Oklahoma will need its best performance of the year to win this Saturday.
As such the Worry Meter is hovering around 90% this week. This game probably comes down to which defense gets that last stop or two in the fourth quarter. Can our defense rise to the occasion?
With all that being said…BOOMER!!!
– Dave
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