Tulsa World: Defensive dominance

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Defensive dominance
Sooners limit OSU to 4 yards in the second half of the shutout.

OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables celebrates with defensive end Frank Alexander after Alexander sacked OSU quarterback Zac Robinson in the fourth quarter Saturday. STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World

By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/29/2009 2:29 AM
Last Modified: 11/29/2009 7:20 AM

NORMAN — You didn't get a lot of coachspeak if you asked coordinator Brent Venables whether his Oklahoma defense made a statement Saturday.

"Absolutely," he replied. "It goes well beyond Oklahoma State. It's about this program, which is much bigger than any coach or player, and certainly any opponent. This means a lot for the future, just how we responded to the adversity."

That adversity came in layers last week. First, there was the Sooners' performance in a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech. Then came the concussion suffered by left tackle Trent Williams at Tuesday's practice, meaning OU would be down a fourth starting offensive lineman for Bedlam.

"Everybody can act like they've been in our shoes, but nobody in the country has had the situation we've had," Venables went on. "To see our guys have a dominant performance like they did against a quality opponent, who had all but chalked it up already, is huge. It's everything."

OU's defense picked up the slack for the team's latest offensive casualty, making observers forget about that problem and the 41 points surrendered at Tech.

"We weren't necessarily angry, we just felt like we had something to prove," cornerback Brian Jackson said. "All those people saying we laid down last week and all that. ... That's not what we do. Not everybody's on their game every week of the season."

"Our pride was bruised, so we prepared better than we did every other week," defensive end Jeremy Beal said. "When you prepare like that, you're supposed to play well, and that's what we did today."

The Cowboys managed 109 yards (4 in the second half), six first downs (none in the second half), no third-down conversions and no points in OU's first Bedlam blanking since 1993.

"We knew we had to prove something after last week's showing," said safety Jonathan Nelson, "when we were absolutely awful."

"There was a lot of doubt, people not believing that we were going to bounce back. They were saying we laid down last week," defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. "We just showed everybody that we can still play football."

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

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swivel mcgee, Tulsa (11/29/2009 7:02:54 PM)

Gerald McCoy is such and great player. OU's defense played with such pride all year and really dominated at times. I think the Texas game was their best performance. What a heart breaker.

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