Alex Grinch says "there isn't a magic bullet," but he's confident that his defense will rebound
As Alex Grinch took the podium for his Wednesday press conference, his demeanor appeared much lighter than it was in the aftermath of last Saturday's loss to Kansas State.
After reviewing the film of his unit's performance, Grinch emphasized that there was plenty of reason for encouragement, but acknowledged that the Sooners' 1-1 record through two games tells all.
“I thought we’ve done a pretty good job," Grinch said of his defense's overall performance. "I think statistics through a couple games obviously can be misleading at times, but what isn’t misleading is your win-loss record.”
Big plays burned the Sooners last weekend, as Kansas State ripped off four gains of at least 35 yards in the second half. Nearly half of Skylar Thompson's 334 passing yards came on two throws, as he connected with Deuce Vaughn for 77 yards and Keyon Mozee for 78. The Sooners' defensive collapse over the final 20 minutes of play provided a discordant coda to what had been a largely dominant performance.
“I think if you just look over the bulk of the reps on film, there’s more positive plays than negative plays," Grinch continued. "[But] I’ll say it this way, when you’re hitting singles and giving up home runs, you’ve gotta hit a lot of singles.”
Grinch preaches turnovers, perhaps more so than any other defensive coordinator in the country. But through two games, the Sooners have just a single takeaway.
So what gives?
There's no easy answer, but Grinch doesn't believe his kamikaze mentality is compromising the integrity of his defense's overall performance.
“Everything has a psychological component to it," Grinch said. "I think certainly it’s not from a lack of want-to. There isn’t a magic bullet; obviously, if we had that, we’d have fired it a long time ago.”
Grinch admitted that the altered offseason and truncated preseason camp has likely contributed to the Sooners' defensive breakdowns, but also said that there's no reason why his unit's progress in weekday practices shouldn't be materializing on gameday.
“The fact of the matter is, if you have five takeaways on a Tuesday, no one cares," said Grinch. "You gotta do it on a Saturday.”
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