Greg McElroy on Oklahoma offense, defense: ‘You always want what you don’t have’
Oklahoma football fans finally have the defense they want, but ESPN analyst Greg McElroy argues it may have come at the cost of the offense.
The Sooners lost 25-15 to Tennessee on Saturday by no fault of their defense. OU forced a pair of strip sacks, twice setting up the offense inside enemy territory only for them to fumble it away on the very next play.
It’s almost the exact opposite of how things were just three years ago in Norman under Lincoln Riley, when the Sooners routinely scored in the 40s and 50s but couldn’t stop anybody. But under new coach Brent Venables, who is a defensive specialist, McElroy believes the Sooners have sacrificed offense to improve the defense.
“Oklahoma’s defense left it all on the field,” he said on Always College Football. “That defensive effort was outrageously good. Look, you always want what you don’t have. Well, what has Oklahoma had for the last 15 years? Super dynamic offense, right? Under Lincoln Riley, under Bob Stoops and, really in the last couple of years, under Brent Venables. They’ve been really dynamic offensively. But you know what they haven’t had in a really long time, maybe two decades? A defense like this.
“This has to be their best defense that they’ve had since the early 2000s. I just feel bad that they couldn’t really get any help from their offense whatsoever. It had to be so demoralizing to see your offense play like that. Just for context, Tennessee came into that game having two punts and one three-and-out in their first three games. They also came into that game averaging about 64 points per game. Oklahoma forced eight punts, four three-and-outs and allowed just two touchdowns. …There’s so much to like about what you saw from this Oklahoma defensive performance. But offensively, oh my goodness.”
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Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold started the game 7-of-16 passing for 54 yards and committed three turnovers before being bench. True freshman Michael Hawkins entered in his place and finished with 132 yards and a touchdown.
Hawkins was announced the starter for Saturday’s contest against Auburn and will hope to give the offense new life. Perhaps a week of practice working with the first team can get him ready and provide a much needed jolt to a now lifeless group.
Regardless, McElroy believes Sooners fans have to be wondering just how good this team would be if it had an offense even half as capable as the ones it rolled out from 2015-19. He also claims it should serve as a warning sign for other college football teams about what can happen if you invest too much into one unit.
“Just to put things in perspective, this defense combined with any of the offenses that we saw from 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19, this defense with those teams (is the) national championship winner,” he said. “No doubt about it. But isn’t it amazing how the team’s kind of like a scale? This is not exclusive to Oklahoma, this is big picture college football. If you lean all in on the offense, your defense will suffer. You lean all in on defense, you offense will suffer. That’s what’s going on right now with the Oklahoma Sooners.
“…Just a big picture takeaway for Oklahoma and all of college football: If you want really good defense and your team goes all in on that, your offense might suffer and vice versa. I just feel bad that they finally have the defense they’ve always wanted and now the offense is just not playing good football.”
Oklahoma will hope its offense can find its footing when it kicks off against Auburn at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.