Defense must improve, or Sooners are in trouble (Where are the Selmon brothers when we need them?)
Two weeks ago, after the Akron game, I said that we would have to await the Tennessee game to see if Oklahoma deserved its then No. 19 ranking. I was wrong. Not because the answer from that game was in the negative but because we didn’t really get an answer.
Now, after week-three and the game with Tulsa, we still don’t know if the Sooners are capable of playing with the big dogs. At least three questions remain.
First, what is the status of the offensive line? I think it fair to say that the O-line was pretty ineffectual against the Vols until the fourth quarter when its apparent better conditioning took over. Even then, one of the premier running backs in the country (Samaje Perine) wasn’t consistently sprung free. And, it’s not clear to what extent that’s because Lincoln Riley is still trying to learn how to use a top-rung running back in his air raid offense. Additionally, Mayfield was constantly scrambling.