2011 was supposed to be the season Sooner fans saw national championship No. 8 come to Norman. Instead, it was the most disappointing season for Oklahoma in recent memory.
In the aftermath of a 9-3 season, a season that most OU fans are considering a disaster, questions must be answered. One of the most prevalent questions is what happened to the OU defense, particularly the secondary, in the Sooners’ three losses?
In those three losses, OU gave up a ton of yards. Here’s the breakdown of those three games:
Texas Tech- 572 yards, 452 passing, 120 rushing
Baylor- 605 yards, 447 passing, 158 rushing
Oklahoma State- 495 yard, 217 passing, 278 rushing
The Sooners have immense talent on defense, there is no debate about that. When you’re a program the caliber of Oklahoma, you have the ability to recruit just about any player that you want to come play for you.
Tony Jefferson, Demontre Hurst, Jamell Fleming, Aaron Colvin and Javon Harris are all immensely talented players. However, the problems came whenever those players were injured or weren’t playing particularly well.
Behind those players were a plethora of players that didn’t have much experience or weren’t nearly as talented as those in front of them.
The cornerbacks specifically are a very green group. Besides Fleming and Hurt, a senior and junior respectively, no one else is older than a sophomore.
There is no shortage of bodies, but what the Sooners can boast in numbers, they cannot in on-field performances. Junior safety Javon Harris was constantly the subject of ridicule and scrutiny for allowing receivers to constantly get behind him. This was particularly apparent against Baylor when Robert Griffin III torched OU for 447 yards passing.
So what is to be done to improve the Sooner defense?
Many have been calling for the unemployed Mike Stoops to return to Norman and restore the defensive swagger that OU boasted from 1999-2003. Since Stoops left to coach at Arizona, the Sooners have not had the same defensive intensity that was so prevalent with players like Roy Williams, Torrance Marshall, Rocky Calmus, Tommie Harris and Derrick Strait.
The likelihood of that is not very high, although some local media members, including Oklahoma City’s News 9 sports director Dean Blevins reported earlier this week that he believed Mike Stoops would return to Norman.
It seems hard to imagine that current OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables would willingly accept the role of co-defensive coordinator. Venables has been with Bob Stoops since he came to OU from Florida.
There is also the case of secondary coach Willie Martinez, who came to OU after being fired as defensive coordinator at Georgia. Martinez has done some good things, but you have to wonder if the Sooner secondary struggles are a result of his coaching, or just simply poor execution.
No matter what the problem is, the Sooners have to do some work in the offseason in order to bounce back from the disappointing season. The return of a dominant defense will calm the tempers and emotions of many an OU fan.
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