There was never any question that the high-octane way Oklahoma plays on offense would cause problems for even the SEC’s best defense. After all, the Sooners averaged 37 points per game in their losses to three SEC champions in three consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2017-2019.
The problem was that Oklahoma was seemingly defenseless when it came to keeping its opponents out of the end zone. In consecutive playoff losses to Georgia, Alabama and LSU, the Sooners allowed an average of 55 points per game. Those three playoff losses led one national college football analyst to suggest that if Oklahoma had had even an average defense during that time, it might have won a few more national championships.
That was in 2019. Now, five years later, Oklahoma is preparing to begin play as a new member of the college football aristocracy known as the SEC.
Under the third year of a defensive-minded head coach Brent Venablesthere has been a course correction in Oklahoma football. With seven defensive players who started the most games for a 10-3 Sooner team last season, including two preseason All-American candidates, the Sooners can play some defense in 2024. In fact, there is a statement here that would never have been considered five years ago: Defense is the strength of the 2024 OU football team.
But to be clear, we’re talking about an Oklahoma offense that ranked third in the nation in total offense (507 yards per game) and fourth in scoring (41.7) a year ago. The Sooners have a new starting quarterback, former five-star recruit Jackson-Arnold He takes over for veteran Dillon Gabriel and the offensive line is completely revamped. But this team is still loaded with offensive playmakers.
It’s actually the uncertainties on offense and, in large part, the conference’s incredibly difficult schedule — in which six teams are ranked ahead of the Sooners in the preseason polls — that have pushed Oklahoma down to No. 8 in the SEC preseason poll and No. 16 in the Associated Press and Coaches national polls.
The SEC was once known as a stalwart defensive power, but over the past few decades the SEC’s offense has caught up with teams and conferences like the Big 12 that prided themselves on their high-scoring and high-dramatic aerial attacks.
When Venables took over the reins of the Sooner program from offensive-minded Lincoln Riley, it was abundantly clear that if Oklahoma wanted to have a chance to contend in the SEC, it would have to make dramatic changes in all areas of defense. That has been the primary focus of Venables and his coaching staff over the past two years, and last season we began to see the fruits of that effort.
Oklahoma should be even better defensively this season, and ESPN’s analytics back that up. In the ESPN SP+ rankings ahead of the 2024 college football season, Oklahoma’s rank within the SEC is much higher on defense than on offense. When was the last time you could say that about an Oklahoma football team?
ESPN officials describe SP+ as “a pace- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football (not a resume ranking).”
According to SP+, Oklahoma’s offensive performance will rank 17th nationally at the start of the 2024 season, but only 7th among teams in the SEC (behind Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri).
On defense, however, the Sooners rank 13th among the best teams nationally and 4th among the best in the SEC according to SP+ metrics (behind only Georgia and Alabama and almost comparable to Texas).
This is a strong positive sign for the defensive improvements orchestrated under Venables, which were absolutely necessary for Oklahoma to become a serious contender in a conference as strong on all sides as the SEC.
For a complete comparison chart of SEC teams in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency as well as special teams, check out an article from Sooner Wire.
