Tulsa World: Defense has tall order living up to hype

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Defense has tall order living up to hype

Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables has been a target of criticism after the Sooners' fourth straight loss in a BCS bowl. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World file

By DAVE SITTLER Sports Columnist
Published: 8/24/2008 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 8/24/2008 4:07 AM

NORMAN — Forty-eight years after Hollywood gave us "The Magnificent Seven" in 1960, Oklahoma's defense could produce "The Maligned Seven" during the 2008 football season.

Should that happen, the moguls from Tinseltown won't come calling to "make movies" about the Sooners as Howard Schnellenberger predicted before the start of his one and only season of buffoonery as OU's coach.

If the Sooners fail to live up to their lofty preseason publicity, conventional wisdom suggests that the back seven players on OU's defensive unit will be the reason.

If that's the case, they'll become the targets of scorn from those impatient and spoiled Sooner fanatics who are tired of "just" winning Big 12 championships and demand another national title be claimed yesterday.

No one can debate that the four up-front defensive players deserve the national hype they've received this summer.

Ditto for an explosive offense that's led by record-setting quarterback Sam Bradford.

Yet one wonders what the national media and voters in the coaches' poll were thinking when they ranked the Sooners in the top five, and predicted coach Bob Stoops has a serious shot at winning his second national title in his 10th season at OU.

They obviously are either clueless, have short memories or haven't taken the time to study the rebuilding status of OU's defense.

After all, don't they recall the last time we saw the Sooner defenders?

It was on Jan. 2, as they trudged off the University of Phoenix Stadium field after West Virginia embarrassed them by rolling up a whopping 525 yards of total offense en route to a 48-28 Fiesta Bowl win.

And two of the best players on that OU unit, linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Reggie Smith, decided to play this season in the NFL instead of spending their senior years competing in the Big 12.

Perhaps those "experts" who are high on OU based their decisions on the Sooners' inspired defensive performance in the Big 12 title game.

OU's intensity left Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, a Heisman Trophy finalist, pouting on the Tigers' bench as the Sooners won their second consecutive Big 12 title and the fifth in six attempts during the Stoops era.

How in the name of Brent Venables can a defense go from a sterling effort in the 38-17 thrashing of the No. 1 Tigers, to stinking up the joint a month later in the bowl game?

Venables, OU's veteran defensive coordinator, has struggled to answer that baffling question for the past eight months. He's also been the main target of those fanatics who conveniently remember the Sooners' four straight losses in BCS bowls, while ignoring the fact Venables played a key role in OU winning those record five Big 12 championships and the 2000 national title.

"That goes with the territory," Venables said of the criticism. "Personally, I'm not worried about what people think as much as I'm concerned about the Jekyll-and-Hyde performance of our players.

"The frustration lies in not being consistent."

OU ranked No. 9 nationally in scoring defense, No. 7 in run defense and No. 18 in total defense heading into the bowl game. But with three starters missing because of injuries or suspensions, the Sooners surrendered 349 rushing yards to the Mountaineers.

While West Virginia's offense was held to 3 yards or fewer in 51 of 59 plays from scrimmage, Venables recalled that on the other "eight plays they're going for touchdowns all over the darn place."

Only five defensive starters are back for OU. That includes the outstanding tackle duo of Gerald McCoy and DeMarcus Granger (suspended for the bowl game) and dynamic end Auston English, the media's preseason choice as the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

But Lofton's decision to turn pro early left a gaping hole in a linebacker corps that is woefully short on experience and depth. The Sooners will also sorely miss the talent and experience Smith would have provided to a secondary that will be forced to start at least two players with little experience.

And then there's the Big 12 and national trend of offenses going to the spread. Venables acknowledged that defenses throughout the country are still searching for the right tactics to combat the wide-open attack.

"A year ago, we were talking about who was going to be in our front seven because we were fortified in the back end (secondary) as far as experience," Venables said. "But now we're talking about concerns with the back seven. And with the capabilities of offenses today, that's a real concern. You feel good about the quality of players that you have. But without the experience, you just don't quite know what you have back there."

Four months from now, Venables and the rest of us will know if OU's players at linebacker and in the secondary are either The Magnificent Seven or The Maligned Seven.

Objective observers, who have been paying attention, would bet as of today more on the latter. By DAVE SITTLER Sports Columnist

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