DALLAS — OU’s identity is shifting.
And it’s not just about the Sooners ’ conference affiliation.
While questions abound on the offensive side — about Jackson Arnold ’s ascension to the starting quarterback role, the rebuilding of the offensive line and more — the strength of this OU team seems to reside in its defense.
That’s no surprise in Year 3 under Brent Venables , but it’s jarring for a program that had long hung its hat on the offensive side.
“We’ll be ready to hit the ground rolling and be one of the top defenses here,” Sooners safety Billy Bowman said Tuesday as OU’s contingent made its way through SEC Media Days at the Omni Hotel.
The Sooners’ defense made significant strides last year in Year 2 under Venables.
After allowing 461 yards of total offense per game in 2022, the Sooners cut that down by more than 70 yards per game last year.
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They forced 2.0 turnovers per game a year ago after forcing just 1.6 per game the year before.
“It brings a lot of confidence,” Bowman said of the strides OU made a year ago. “Especially bringing back experienced guys all over the defense, from the D-line to the linebacker corps to the defensive backs. Going into this Year 3 will be another big jump. We’re in control of our own destiny. I feel like we’re doing a great job of continuing to keep the foot on the pedal, and we know we’re not nowhere close to where we need to be.”
Bowman wasn’t the only Sooners defender saying he expected the defense to take another significant step forward in 2024 even as the strength of schedule ratchets up significantly with the move to the SEC.
“We’re a lot more confident,” OU linebacker Danny Stutsman said. “A lot of guys know what they’re doing. They have full faith that every single person in front of them is going to do their job. At the end of the day, you’ve got to do your 1/11th. I think sometimes we would do that very well, but there was tons of inconsistency.”
The OU defense didn’t return much in the way of experience early in the Venables era.
But each season, the Sooners have built a bigger core of experienced talent.
“There’s a lot more experience. There’s a lot more confidence,” Stutsman said. “Those guys out there, they’re sure of themselves and what their job is. Having guys like Billy, Woodi (Washington), myself and Ethan (Downs), older guys all over the ball, can really help those young guys, really creates a lot of depth for people. … We know what we’re supposed to do.”
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Bowman said last season’s win over Texas showed the defense both how far it has come and how far it still has to go.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Sooners’ eventual 34-30 win over the Longhorns, the defense stuffed Texas running back Jonathon Brooks on three consecutive runs from the OU 1-yard line.
Then Bowman brought down Xavier Worthy short of the goal line for a turnover on downs.
“It did validate us,” Bowman said of that series. “But it also made us open our eyes and be like, ‘Dang.’ We left — like when we went back to watch the Texas game we realized we left this out, we left this out, we left this out, we did this wrong. We did so many things wrong that game. We could have won by more.”
While much of last season’s defense returns, the Sooners are adjusting to new defensive coordinator Zac Alley, though at the core the defense is Venables.
“He’s a fundamentalist,” Venables said of Alley. “He’s demanding. He knows what excellence looks like, and he’s blended well with the rest of our staff, who, again, most of them he had previous relationships as well. So it’s been a fine-oiled machine, if you will, up to this point.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why OU football coach Brent Venables' reshaped Sooners defense brings confidence in SEC
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