Oklahoma's Defensive Front 'Looking Under Every Rock' to Increase Production

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s defensive line play has taken a nosedive over the past three weeks.

Exiting non-conference play, the Sooners ranked first nationally in tackles for loss (32), first in tackles for loss yardage (167), second in total sack yardage (96) and fourth in the country in sacks (13).

Since the schedule turned to Big 12 play, however, the OU pass rush has been non-existent.

Switching between a four-man front against Kansas State and three-man looks against both TCU and Texas, Brent Venables’ defense has posted just one sack and 12 tackles for loss across the last three games.

While the defensive line has been a non-factor, quarterbacks Adrian Martinez, Max Duggan and Quinn Ewers have had all the time in the world to pick apart the Sooner secondary.

OU currently sits with the No. 77-ranked pass defense, and matters get worse when it comes to stuffing the run.

In Big 12 play alone, the Sooners are allowing 310.6 rushing yards per game over the last three weeks.

Oklahoma eventually rolled four-man looks back at Texas toward the end of last week’s Red River rout, but Venables dug his heels in a bit during his weekly press conference about how effective a three-man defensive front can be.

“Who’d we play Week 3? Nebraska. So we sacked them pretty good and we stopped the run out of (the three-man front),” Venables said. “… The three-man, actually, a couple of years ago led the country in defense. In the three men. Iowa State has been the best defense in this league the last five years, year in and year out over that period of time.”

Transitioning from Alex Grinch’s “Speed D” to Venables system was going to be difficult, as Grinch intentionally looked for lighter players who relied on getting in the backfield quickly.

But the combination of strength coach Jerry Schmidt’s offseason program and the additions of guys like Jeffery Johnson and Jonah Laulu in the transfer portal appeared to give the defensive front a minor face lift this offseason.

The play on the field reflected that through the first three weeks as well, which makes the disastrous turnaround even more perplexing.

“I wish I could speak on that but I obviously can’t,” Johnson said after practice on Monday. “I think from us and everybody this is gonna take a lot more commitment from a team standpoint. A lot of guys have bought in. I thought what it takes to win is gonna take a little more commitment.”

Regardless of how many defensive lineman Oklahoma throws onto the field against No. 19-ranked Kansas this weekend, Venables said there are still some basic things the defensive line will need to execute for any scheme to be effective.

“Again, I think it's still being physical with whatever system,” Venables said. “You're going to get to four-man principles. You're still just playing one gap. We’re not two-gapping people out of that. So you're still on edges at times. Sometimes you slide guys inside but you've got outside pressure and things of that nature.

“So sometimes it looks really good and when you're losing and you're not stopping the run, it don't look so good. We were trying to help guys. There's lots of reasons and maybe we can talk about it in the offseason. But you’re trying, like every single week you're trying to protect weaknesses and play to your strengths and then sometimes it's the lesser of two evils. But right now, none of it's any good with what our expectations are.”

This weekend, the Jayhawks have the formula to make the Sooners look silly yet again.

Kansas has allowed just three sacks all season long, the fourth best mark in the country, and will bring the 16th best rushing attack in the country to Norman, averaging 215.2 rushing yards per game.

Backup quarterback Jason Bean is expected to get the start for the Jayhawks after last week’s injury to Kansas star Jalon Daniels, and Bean will have plenty of confidence from his performance against OU last year.

Bean spearheaded Kansas’ upset bid in Lawrence with 246 passing yards and a score on 17-of-23 passing, adding 59 yards on the ground.

The quest for answers continues for the Oklahoma defensive front this week, and the defensive staff is working to try and recapture the production from OU’s first three contests.

“We tried to mix things up. After three weeks, we were doing pretty well there,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said on Monday. “The production hasn't been what it was. The results haven't been what it was. We're evaluating everything every week. We're looking under every rock and behind every door. We're evaluating a bunch of things right now.”

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