Tulsa World: Tackling a challenge

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Tackling a challenge

Texas Tech receiver Michael Crabtree (left) and the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma 34-27 last year. Tulsa World file

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/18/2008 2:41 AM
Last Modified: 11/18/2008 6:20 PM

Listen to Bob Stoops discuss the Sooners’ loss at Texas Tech last season, and the implications of this week’s game in Norman.

OU defense goes back to basics against explosive Raiders

NORMAN — For all his eccentricities, and the avant-garde reputation of his offense, Texas Tech's Mike Leach is an extremely predictable coach.

"That's one of the beauties of Mike and his system. He's not trying to fool you, but 'This is what we do,' " said Bob Stoops, whose No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners defend Leach's No. 2 Red Raiders Saturday at 7 p.m. "I appreciated that when he was here. There were a lot of ideas we could implement with it. 'No, this is what we do, and this is all we do.'

"I can remember him getting mad at (then-OU quarterback) Josh Heupel for trying to tell him what kind of coverage they were in. He said, 'I don't care what coverage they were in. Pay attention to what your reads are and your progressions and execute what we do.'"

So the Sooners know what's coming Saturday night.

Luckily for them, they also know how to stop it. And the formula they've used to go 6-2 against Leach's Red Raiders since 2000 is as basic as the formula Leach uses to score 48 points per game.

It starts with the most basic fundamental of all — tackling.

"We know they're going to make plays. They've got guys on scholarship just like we do," said OU cornerback Dominique Franks.

"They're going to make drives, we've just got to make sure we don't give up the big plays.

"An offense like that, we've just got to make them grind it out."

Leach's quarterbacks averaged 31 completions in their six losses to the Sooners, but just 8.8 yards per completion. Basically, Tech's short passes produced modest gains.

Whether OU can tackle so surely again Saturday is a mystery. The Sooners spent as much time chasing as tackling over a four-game stretch from Oct. 11-Nov. 1, when they gave up a torrent of big plays. In their last game at Texas A&M, however, they allowed 3.5 yards per play, their stiffest showing since the season opener against Chattanooga.

So the Sooners must snuff out the explosiveness of Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree and company.

But they also must make things happen themselves. OU intercepted Leach's quarterbacks 15 times in those six wins over Tech and sacked them 17 times.

The trend seems set up to continue, considering the Sooners lead the nation in turnover margin and are third in sacks.

Then again, Tech has given up just five sacks all year, the second-fewest nationally, while Harrell has thrown but five picks in 463 attempts.

Something's going to give. The Sooners plan on it being Harrell.

"I imagine they're going to throw it on us 60-plus times," said OU safety Quinton Carter. "You're going to get a lot of opportunities at turnovers."

Said defensive tackle Gerald McCoy: "We're going to try to make (Harrell) as uncomfortable as we can, and make sure we get our hands in those (passing) windows."

There is one more thing McCoy and the Sooners' front seven must do, if recent OU-Tech history teaches anything.

"If you don't stop the run and control the line of scrimmage, you're not going to beat anybody," said OU middle linebacker Austin Box.

"That's where it all starts. That's where you win football games."

The Sooners have won six over Leach by holding his Red Raiders to 242 yards on 120 rushes.

If they limit Tech's Baron Batch and Shannon Woods to 2 yards per carry Saturday night — and they could, given their opponents' 3.2 yards-per-carry average on the season — they'll be very pleased, considering that duo averages 6 yards per carry, and 125 yards per game, combined.

"Overall, we've probably defended them better than most people," Stoops said, not so much of Tech running backs but Tech offenses under Leach, "but you have to do it every time. It isn't like we've got a bunch of tricks Mike hasn't seen. It gets down to you've got to line up and be able to execute and tackle in space, get pressure, cover people, all of that."

HISTORY OF SUCCESS

Oklahoma has gone 6-2 against Mike Leach’s Texas Tech Red Raiders since 2000, mainly behind a strong defensive effort. The Sooners have held Tech to a 17-point average in those six wins by doing three things consistently well:

1. Tackling: Tech quarterbacks have averaged 31 completions in those six games, but those completions have gained an average of 8.8 yards. Graham Harrell, by comparison, has averaged 12.3 yards per completion this season.

2. Forcing the issue: The Sooners have made 15 interceptions, forced 18 turnovers and sacked the quarterback 17 times in their six wins over Leach’s Red Raiders. Harrell has thrown five interceptions and been sacked five times in Tech’s 10 games coming in.

3. Stuffing the run: Tech has averaged 2 yards per carry in its six losses to OU since ‘00. This year, Baron Batch and Shannon Woods come in averaging 6 yards per run and 125 yards per game.

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

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