You can already sense challenge facing OU offense vs Texas
Published: 6/20/2012 8:44 AM
Last Modified: 6/20/2012 8:44 AM
Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma's best and most analytical player at the time, nailed it after the Sooners' 2011 annihilation of Texas: "The defense they run this year is totally different than last year. They have to buy in and really learn and get comfortable. They're only five games into the season, and they still have a lot of work to do. We really got a chance to expose it."
Broyles picked on Texas' young DBs (Burnt Green?) all afternoon. So did Kenny Stills, Jaz Reynolds and, of course, Landry Jones. The Longhorns couldn't generate enough of a pass rush to help their back end. The result was 453 yards and 34 points. OU's offense left quite a mark.
By the end of the season, however, it had pretty much healed.
After the Red River rout, the Longhorns blanked Kansas for their first shutout since their 2005 national title season. They held Texas Tech to 20 points, which is sort of like a shutout. They kept Missouri's James Franklin under 200 passing yards, and Kansas State's Collin Klein under 100. They intercepted first-round draft choice Ryan Tannehill three times.
The Longhorns did, in fact, get comfortable with new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz as the year wore on. By their Holiday Bowl bottle-up of Cal, they were thriving.
And it serves warning to the Big 12 in general, and OU in particular, as we approach the new season.
Next Oct. 13, youth will be on the Sooners' side. Broyles won't be walking down that ramp. Nor, it seems, will Reynolds. Aside from Stills, it's possible the Sooners will have turned over their entire receiving corps.
They'll still have Jones, but Broyles' knee injury seemed to show he's an as-good-as-his-receivers quarterback. He's going to need a lot of help from a lot of unproven talent.
Contrast that with this bulletin from Tuesday: Texas put five players on Athlon's preseason All-Big 12 First-Team Defense.
What does Athlon know, you say? Well, Phil Steele put three Longhorns on his preseason first team defense and three more on his second team.
CollegeFootballNews.com listed Texas bookend pass rushers Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat as preseason All-Americans.
Longhorns linebacker Jordan Hicks is up for all-conference consideration. So are three members of that formerly-scorched secondary – cornerbacks Quandre Diggs and Carrington Byndom and safety Kenny Vaccaro.
Does all of this summertime hype mean OU is doomed Oct. 13? Course not. Given that the Stoops brothers will be gameplanning against a potentially wheels-spinning offense, I'd pick the Sooners.
The point is OU's offense shouldn't be generating 34 points this year. Not against a Texas defense that absorbed last year's whipping and grew up quickly. A defense that, a year older and steadier under Diaz, should fight the Sooners with something to prove.
And that should make for a much more competitive game.
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
