Three things to know from Sark: Battling a different Oklahoma defense, updates on Ja'Tavion Sanders and Ryan Watts, how Texas game plans
To say the Longhorn offense eviscerated Oklahoma last season would be an understatement. Texas had 13 drives in the 2022 Red River Shootout, with seven ending in touchdowns. On two different occasions, Texas scored on back-to-back-to-back drives. Steve Sarkisian‘s offense, led by Quinn Ewers and Bijan Robinson, recorded 585 total yards and averaged a whopping 7.2 yards per play against a hapless Sooner defense.
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The season-long numbers for Brent Venables‘ year one defense illustrate the struggles that side of the ball had in 2022. Oklahoma was No. 121 in total defense, No. 87 in third down defense, and surrendered more total first downs than any team in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Sooner opponents tallied 5.7 yards per play in 2022. This season, as one the strongest indicators of improvement, Venables’ defense is allowing just 4.6 yards per snap.
Oklahoma hasn’t been particularly tested quite yet as their strength of schedule according to ESPN checks in at No. 82. However, statistical measures, as well as Sarkisian’s own eyes, indicate the level of play by the OU defense has improved from year one to year two.
“I think they’re playing really well together,” Sarkisian said. “Coach Venables, he’s been doing it too long at too high of a level to think they weren’t going to get that thing fixed. I said it last year that they would, so naturally they have. I think they’re just playing well together.
“A lot of guys are on the same accord, the front tied together with the ‘backers tied together with the secondary. The multiplicity of what they do is very challenging. They’ve got a lot of defenses. They’ve got a lot of coverages. They’ve got a lot of pressure packages. It’s definitely challenging on that front especially when they’re all on the same accord and working well together.”
This year versus Arkansas State, SMU, Tulsa, Cincinnati, and Iowa State, the Sooners have allowed a total of 54 points. In the lower third of college football in defensive metrics a year ago, Oklahoma is in the top third in total defense, rushing defense, passing efficiency defense, third down defense, and fourth down defense.
Much of that has to do with the influence of a number of transfers. It also has to do with experience in the system. No player is better evidence of that experience than Danny Stutsman.
Stutsman has 49 tackles, including 9.0 for loss, and two sacks this season to go along with a pick-six and a fumble recovery. Sarkisian noted how Stutsman, now in his third season in Norman, is a key part of the Sooners’ defensive improvement.
“Historically with Brent, he’s always had that playmaker linebacker in that system that he asks a lot of,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a really good blitzer. He can pressure the quarterback. He’s really good in zone coverage of keeping his eyes on the quarterback to create turnovers, and he’s a good tackler.”
Stutsman, along with other OU defensive leaders like Jaren Kanak, Key Lawrence, Peyton Bowen, Billy Bowman, and Dasan McCullough, will seek to prove on the field they really have improved since the abysmal 2022 defense contributed mightily to Oklahoma’s 6-7 season.
“I think they naturally upgraded there,” Sarkisian said. “Coach Venables, he’s been doing it a long time. He’s one of the best in the business at game-planning and getting his defenses ready to play. It’s going to be a great challenge. We’re looking forward to it.”
Update on Ja’Tavion Sanders, Ryan Watts
Both Ja’Tavion Sanders and Ryan Watts left Saturday’s contest with Kansas due to injury. Sanders left in the first quarter while Watts exited in the second half.
“JT and Ryan are both day-to-day right now,” Sarkisian said. “It’s going to take a minute for them to rehab and see if they’ll be able to go. I’ll probably have a better answer for you on Thursday.”
How does Steve Sarkisian game plan on offense?
Sarkisian was asked about how he and his staff build a game plan for an individual opponent.
“If you can imagine, when we come in on Sunday as a staff and we grade the tape and we put that game to bed, when we go onto the next game, that call sheet I have on the sideline? I wipe it clean,” Sarkisian said. “There’s nothing on it.
“Then we build that game plan that week from a clean slate. So as it grows from throughout that day and then we present it to our players, it’s about them understanding why we’re doing the things that we’re doing in this plan and then how we’re going to do it. Every week it’s different.
“Sometimes from a fan’s perspective, the plays may look the same. But there’s a reason maybe we’re running them a little bit different this week. The players need to know the why and how to execute it. I know a lot of times it just looks like we run the ball right up the middle, but there’s some intricacies of what we’re doing of how we’re running that ball right up the middle.”
