Column: Oklahoma's Front Seven Shows the Sky is the Limit in Performance vs. Auburn

NORMAN — R Mason Thomas wasn’t about to be stopped.

Thomas, suspended for the first half of Saturday’s game against Auburn, put the exclamation point on 11th-ranked Oklahoma’s 24-17 victory Saturday at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Thomas’ sack of former teammate Jackson Arnold for a safety with just more than a minute remaining was indicative of a performance for the ages from the Sooners’ defense.

It was relentless.

It was physical.

It was deep.

It was a performance that allows Sooners’ fans to at least start whispering about the possibilities the season holds.

“Their physicality, their ability to get off the blocks and knock people back was something else today,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said.

The win over the 22nd-ranked Tigers was far from perfect, but the performance from OU’s defense, especially the front seven, was indicative of a group that gives the Sooners a chance to contend for a College Football Playoff berth.

“We’ve got some dogs,” defensive tackle Gracen Halton said. “That’s what we call the D-line — the dog pound. We’ve got some dogs. After one dog come, one dog come out, the next dog going to come in.”

They kept coming in waves.

Read More Oklahoma vs. Auburn

Seven players were in on at least one sack as OU tied a school record with nine sacks.

Hours after the game ended, the stats were adjusted to take an apparent sack away from Marvin Jones Jr. Jones was flagged for a penalty on the play, but it appeared as if officials had counted the result of the play when marking off the distance.

Jayden Jackson had 2.5 sacks. Thomas had two. Halton, David Stone, Taylor Wein, and Owen Heinecke had one each. Kip Lewis assisted Jackson on a shared sack.

At the end of a nip-and-tuck game, the Sooners’ depth on the defensive line remained apparent, and it wasn’t just that Thomas sack to nearly put the game away.

Arnold led the Tigers on a daunting task — driving 92 yards for a touchdown.

But Arnold had just engineered a go-ahead scoring drive before John Mateer answered to put the Sooners ahead.

Auburn got the ball with just less than five minutes remaining and plenty of offensive confidence.

The Sooners’ defense snuffed that out quickly after the Tigers picked up a quick first down.

Stone came up to challenge Arnold at the line of scrimmage, teaming with Peyton Bowen to make the first-down stop for no gain.

On second down, Stone, Halton and Wein all converged on Arnold for a short loss for what appeared to be the (apparent) record-tying sack.

Venables, though, chose to accept a holding penalty, opting to prioritize yardage over downs.

After another Auburn penalty pushed the Tigers back to their own 8, the Sooners’ defensive line was able to pin their ears back against an offensive line that came into the game with plenty of hype but left dazed.

Auburn’s starting offensive line and tight end consists of four seniors and two juniors who have now combined for 269 career starts — most of any SEC team. The five up front average 6-foot-5 and 326 pounds, and tight end Brandon Frazier is 6-7 and 267.

But that line committed eight penalties on the night — two holding calls and six false starts.

On second down, Stone twisted near the line of scrimmage, eventually coming from behind to drag Arnold down for no gain.

Then when it looked like maybe the Sooners wouldn’t quite get the sack record, Halton showed patience, fighting off his blocker before quickly moving to his left to stop Arnold for a 4-yard loss for what appeared to be the ninth sack of the game (later changed to eighth).

Gracen Halton, Sooners — Gracen Halton had one of Oklahoma's program-record tying nine sacks in Saturday's 24-17 win over Auburn. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Then, with the crowd around Owen Field reaching its crescendo, came Thomas’ piece de resistance.

Arnold never had a chance.

Thomas ran right through Tigers right tackle Mason Murphy with a powerful bull-rush. Running back Damari Alston tried to chip Thomas from the left, but didn’t even slow him down as Thomas wrapped up his former teammate and brought him down for a safety.

“The people in the stands know they’re going to pass the ball. We know they’re going to pass the ball. Our coaching staff knows they’re going to pass the ball. A mom looking at a television knows they’re going to pass the ball,” Thomas said. “... You just have pass rushers on the field and we know he’s going to hold the ball in a sense because he’s down.”

The defensive line, while impacting the game plenty to start the season, hadn’t put up big numbers.

No player had more than 1.5 sacks coming into the game, and Thomas — who had nine sacks a year ago to lead the Sooners — was still searching for his first.

It didn’t take him long.

After Thomas sat out the first half due to his targeting ejection against Temple the week before, the senior jumped on Arnold’s back for a sack on just the second defensive play after halftime.

“All I wanted to do was join the party,” Thomas said of watching from the bench in the first half as the defense sacked Arnold seven (officially six) times. “It was amazing. They’re lucky I couldn’t run out on the field because I would have ran out and started celebrating with them.”

It wasn’t just the pass rush.

The Tigers came into the game averaging 242 yards on the ground.

The Sooners held them to 67. Even without the sack yardage included, Auburn rushed for just 111 yards — 85 of those on four explosive plays.

The road ahead is daunting after a bye week and a matchup with Kent State, but the way Oklahoma’s defense is playing, the Sooners figure to stay in the playoff discussion for the foreseeable future.

Afterward, Thomas was asked about the potential for OU’s defense.

“There’s no ceiling,” Thomas said.

It’s hard to argue.