Oklahoma Defense Surging Ahead of Red River Rivalry

The Sooners' defense ranks among the best in several categories this season.

Sep 28, 2024; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter (27) is tackled by Oklahoma Sooners defensive lineman Caiden Woullard (90) and defensive back Woodi Washington (5) during the second quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images / John Reed-Imagn Images

NORMAN — Remember when Oklahoma senior safety Billy Bowman Jr. said the Sooners’ defense was playing at 75 percent of its potential?

“I’d say the bye week gave us time to rejuvenate our bodies, get ourselves back together,” Bowman said on Monday. “We had a great practice today, so I feel like we’re still around 80-90 percent range. We’re nowhere close to where we need to be, where we can be, but we’re working every day to get there.”

The jump from two years ago, to last year, to this season, and to the Auburn game two weeks ago has been noticeable every time Bowman, Danny Stutsman, Robert Spears-Jennings and the OU defense have taken the field. Through five games, the Sooners (5-1) have produced the second-most sacks and  fourth-best rushing defense in the Southeastern Conference. Their 16.0 points allowed per game ranks within the top 20 of all of Division I FBS football.

"Let's face it," Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said Tuesday during a press conference inside Memorial Stadium, "for a decade, we were not very good on defense here and flipping the script is showing them why you should believe, why you should buy in, what it takes to. If you're going to be about something as a competitor and as a defensive player, that is what it's about, when you're back's against the wall. We've had several of those [momentum-shifting plays] the last couple years and you build off of all of it."

“It's been tremendous,” said senior defensive lineman Trace Ford. “Last year, we had no sacks. This year, we're getting more and more sacks. It's really good to see all that work that (Todd) Bates and Coach (Miguel) Chavis have been putting in for us. It's been coming to show and hopefully it just continues to show for the rest of the season.”

Heading into Texas week, it is crucial they are playing that well or better.

“It [OU-Texas] never gets old, especially coming off a bye week, it’s even more exciting,” Bowman said.

A year ago, the Sooners’ defense produced an unforgettable goal line stand. Four times from the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Sooners — specifically Kip Lewis, Dasan McCullough, Stutsman and Ethan Downs and, on fourth down, Bowman — retired the play premature of the goal line, stunning the third-ranked Longhorns. All five of those players will be active on Saturday as the Sooners will get a boost from the return of McCullough, who had been out since fall camp with a toe injury.

“We let up a few big plays for them to get down there, and then, what we say all the time, 'When our back is against the wall,  they don't get in.' So we were just down there four plays in a row, four straight plays. That's why we practiced those moments at practice. So when the game comes, we're prepared, and so we were prepared, and we stood them four straight times in a row,” Bowman said. “[On fourth down] I just remember, we were in kind of a mixed call. Didn't necessarily know exactly what we were doing, so I had told Dasan to go ahead and blitz, I'll take care of them out here. So right away, he [Xavier Worthy] motioned in. Wasn't really expecting a pass, but he motioned in, and then screen pass just triggered.”

“That's a game that you'll remember forever,” Ford said. “That just gave life to the team. It gave life to the defense. It was just something that was nerve-wracking. You get that stop and it was just the best feeling. It's something that I will remember. I'll remember that play for the rest of my life.”

The call from Toby Rowland as OU’s side of the stadium erupted: “They turned away Bevo on the goal line.”

Bevo has grown since last year. The first-ranked Longhorns (5-0) have the seventh-best scoring offense in the country and third-best passing offense in the SEC. They're a two-touchdown favorite on Saturday.

“I'm very excited. It's going to be a challenge,” Bowman said. “[Texas has] some great receivers, got depth, got good young guys, got experience. But it's going to be a challenge. And we're not backing down from nobody, so we're ready."

“I think Texas is motivation enough, but it's exciting playing the No. 1 team in the country, seeing where you compete, where you rank with those guys and I think everyone is excited to see what OU can do,” Ford said. “It's fun knowing you're the underdog. The underdog mentality is a great mentality to have and I'm just excited to have and I'm just excited to really play with these dogs that we got in the locker room this weekend.”

As they did in Dallas a year ago, getting stops in the red zone will be imperative for the Sooners this Saturday. The momentum of that play and that win ignited the defense for the remainder of the 2023 season. It will do the same on Saturday.

"The very next week, coming off a bye, we played UCF right out here and had another goal line stand. We had a goal line stand there, we had a goal line stand the West Virginia game, had the goal line stand and the two-point stop against UCF in a two-point game that we won the week after we played Texas," Venables said. "So we've looked at all those, the critical moments as you build your team throughout the year. You watch in the out of season different defining moments and developing an identity and always believing when your back's against the wall. . . And so that's helped us be successful this year. And that was a big part of last year. We played good red zone defense."

The 2024 Red River Rivalry kicks off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Cotton Bowl.

"Man, to be honest with you, I just think it's in the dirt [at the Cotton Bowl]. Whatever happened there over these hundreds of years is just there. Like, you just hit that field, it feels like it's hard to breathe. There's nowhere to go. It's literally only one way in and only one way out, you know? And I think that's why they still play it there," Bowman said. "Like you said, the spreads don't matter, how good this team or that team is going into it, like, that has literally never mattered if you look at it. Like, it literally never has. So just as far as just it being 'that game.' Like, it's the best of the best from the states, as they played it."