NORMAN — With the bad out of the way with the Oklahoma offensive mid-season report card, it’s now time to turn the attention to the defense.
The Sooners have been mostly excellent on defense, entering Saturday’s game against Mississippi State (2:30 p.m., SEC Network) No. 5 in FBS in total defense at 260.7 yards per game.
Oklahoma has been solid on all three levels but how do they grade out individually?
Here’s the mid-season defensive report card, including a look, at the Sooners’ special teams:
Defensive Line: A-
The good: The Sooners have been strong on the front lines with Taylor Wein and Adepoju Adebawore on the edges and Jayden Jackson and David Stone on the interior. Oklahoma is in the top 15 nationally in sacks with 3.0 per game. Freshman edge rusher Jake Kreul leads the team with three sacks — 2.5 of them in the loss to Kentucky. After some uncharacteristic missed tackles in the season opener, Wein has been very good. Players like Trent Wilson and Bishop Thomas have added depth to the interior of the line.
The bad: After some hope that they’d be able to contribute quickly despite being very late additions to the roster, Danny Saili and Braxton Fely haven’t made a ton of impact to this point. It’s hard to get Brent Venables’ defensive system down even with a full offseason, much less a compressed timeline, so it’s no surprise they’ve struggled. Jackson and Stone haven’t been bad but they haven’t posted eye-popping stats for far. But these, like most defensive position groups, are relatively minor complaints compared to the offensive report card.
Linebackers: B+
The good: After some tackling issues over the first couple of games, the Sooners have been much better in the last four, with linebackers Kip Lewis and Owen Heinecke leading the way there. After suffering an injury against Michigan, Lewis has returned and been excellent. Heinecke was hurt briefly against Georgia but has remained solid and leads the Sooners with 44 tackles. No other OU defender has more than 29.
The bad: There is definitely some concern about the depth here. Heinecke (274 plays this season) and Lewis (205) have been used virtually constantly in recent games. Cole Sullivan has been banged up but even when he’s been healthy, he hasn’t made a consistent impact. James Nesta started in Lewis’ absence against New Mexico but has played just two defensive snaps in each of the last two games.
Defensive Backs: A
The good: Safety Peyton Bowen has graded out the highest among OU defensive regulars according to Pro Football Focus with an 81.4 grade. His signature play so far was the interception return for a touchdown against Texas. Sophomore cornerback Courtland Guillory then had the late interception against the Longhorns to set up the game-winning field goal. Over the last two games, sophomore Trystan Haynes has been a solid fill-in for the injured Eli Bowen. Teams have posted just 151.3 passing yards per game against the Sooners to this point, sixth best in FBS.
The bad: The Sooners have given up a couple big plays on defense, though they’ve made more than their share of plays. Guillory hasn’t shown the same edge he did last year as a freshman, though that could be just as much about the different way teams have attacked him so far. Outside of those, the biggest problem for the Sooners on the back end has been injuries, with starters Michael Boganowski and Eli Bowen missing time due to injury. Reserve corner Jacobe Johnson suffered an injury against Georgia and remains out. Outside of those two interceptions against Texas, only Omarion Robinson has an interception.
Special Teams: B
The good: The win over Texas is the highlight of the Sooners’ season at the midpoint and it’s likely to remain so without a drastic turnaround. And that victory happened in large part due to the special teams. Special teams coordinator Doug Deakin and special analyst Stephen Copeland dialed up a punt block that worked to perfection, Tate Sandell bounced back from a rough patch to hit two second-half field goals, including the game-winning 47-yarder. After getting close to breaking one last season, Isaiah Sategna had an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown.
The bad: After an historic season last season, Sandell missed three consecutive field-goal tries before making the final two kicks in the Red River Rivalry. Isaiah Sategna fumbled a punt return against New Mexico, giving the Lobos the ball at the Sooners’ 39 in the first quarter of the win over New Mexico. Oklahoma has also had a handful of special teams penalties. For the second consecutive season, the Sooners switched punters early in the season, though both Grayson Miller and Jacob Ulrich have been plenty effective. Perhaps the worst part of the group was the fake field goal blunder against Kentucky where Ulrich threw an interception.
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