Oklahoma's Defense Gets it Done Again in a Very Big Game

Oklahoma will be in the College Football Playoff when the field is officially announced on Sunday, and there’s a good chance none of the other three semifinalists will have a unit-wide weakness as publicly-acknowledged as the Sooners’ defense. Oklahoma sits in the middle of the pack nationally in yards per game allowed and gave up 35 points or more four different times during the regular season, which didn’t raise eyebrows in the pass-happy Big 12 but dragged down its national reputation as the top tier of championship contenders took shape.

But over the course of the year, the Oklahoma D has produced considerable evidence that it knows when the big games are. First, there was September’s 31–16 win over Ohio State in Columbus, which sent the Buckeyes’ offense spiraling into a temporary existential crisis. Then there were hard-hitting wins over Texas ...Read More>>