Oklahoma's Defense Focused on Bouncing Back After it 'Lacked Details' Against Texas

The Sooners' defense came away even more frustrated with their loss to the Longhorns after Sunday's film review sessions.

Oklahoma defensive lineman David Stone tackles Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner (5) in Saturday's defeat in the Red River Rivalry. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Film review of the Texas loss was frustrating for Oklahoma’s defense. 

The Sooners held the Longhorns to 302 total yards, but Arch Manning was able to take his team down the field on a handful of sustained drives, which was enough to win 23-6.

“I just think we lacked details,” OU defensive tackle Damonic Williams said after practice on Monday night. “We truly beat ourselves. I mean that school is a very good school. They have great athletes, very talented, but at the end of the day, I feel like we just beat ourselves to be honest.”

Oklahoma entered the week as the best defense in the nation at defending third downs, but the Longhorns were able to convert on 10-of-17 third downs, including 7-of-8 attempts in the third quarter. 

That, paired with OU’s offense failing to get anything going on its first drive of the second half, led to Texas holding the ball for virtually the entire third quarter. 

The Sooners only sacked Manning once, which represented a major dip in their production from the prior weeks. The Texas quarterback was able to do just enough to evade the OU pass rush, which is an improvement Oklahoma will have to make this week as they try to slow down South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.

South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) looks to pass as Oklahoma defensive lineman Gracen Halton (56) in last year's meeting between the Gamecocks and the Sooners. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

“Rush lanes are always going to be rush lanes,” Williams said, “and you just have to make sure that you’ve got the right alignment, the right assignment and make sure you get the call and you execute.”

Another area of improvement will be tackling. 

Oklahoma missed tackles on a few key plays in the Red River Rivalry, and veteran safety Robert Spears-Jennings and defensive end R Mason Thomas shouldered blame for tackling after the defeat. 

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But defensive back Gentry Williams said the entire defense picked each other up on Sunday to prepare everyone for a spirited week of practice in hopes of responding with a much better showing against the Gamecocks.

“It means a lot to them,” he said. “They understand that you don’t get a lot of chances to play in that Red River game, and when it means a lot to you, you’re not going to feel the best after you don’t get the result you wanted when you put the work in. And I think they understand that. 

“But those are two guys, they’ve played a lot of ball, especially in the SEC, so they know what it takes to reload every single week, and I have complete faith in them that they’re going to go out and do their job again this week at a high level.”

The Sooners have a chance to enjoy plenty of defensive success against South Carolina. 

Shane Beamer’s team is ranked 111th in the country in rushing offense, averaging 115.3 rushing yards per game, and the Gamecocks are 121st in total offense and 103rd in scoring offense. 

South Carolina also parted ways with offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley following Saturday’s 20-10 loss to LSU. 

But the Sooners can’t dwell on the mistakes from Saturday to get back to playing their best this week. 

“Don’t let your past opponent beat you twice,” Damonic Williams said. “And that’s really the mindset. It’s just what happened, happened. We have to learn from it, keep our heads held high because there’s a lot of football left. Just have to go out there and work.

“… There’s certain things that we practiced all week that we just didn’t execute. And it’s just, we’re going to get right.”