Clay Horning
Defensive statistics were skewed in the Big 12 last season. When you’ve got Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri in the same conference, all led by fine quarterbacks with playmaking supporting talent, it should go without saying.
But numbers still don’t lie. Even against so many great offenses, Oklahoma allowed 367.7 yards and 24.5 points per outing a year ago. It’s not like the Sooners played horrible defense, but still they gave up what they gave up.
Worst of all and all numbers aside, they gave up third and short to Tim Tebow and Florida what seemed like over and over and over again, and that more than anything may be fueling what Sooner defenders proclaim to be a fresh and new approach.
“Stingy,” “Selfish,” “Angry,” and “Mean” are the words of the day on the less glorious side of the football.
“It’s just a different type of mindset,” All-American defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “Being real stingy and selfish, this is what we have to do. We’re going to play real angry. Real angry and mean.”
So, you know, case closed.
All those questions about the Sooner defense heading into the BCS Championship Game that weren’t really answered against the Gators?
Don’t worry.
There’s a new mindset in town.
If only it were that easy.
If only a unit, unfairly maligned or not last fall, really could guarantee success a year later. Because it would seem to have all it needs, like all kinds of returning starters, including four preseason All-Big 12 first-team picks in McCoy, defensive end Jeremy Beal, linebacker Travis Lewis and cornerback Dominique Franks.
Only it can’t.
If it were that easy, why weren’t the Sooners angry and mean a year ago? As long as we’re at it, what the heck does stingy, selfish, angry and mean really mean?
It’s like calling somebody nice, fun and cool.
Could mean anything.
“That means we’re going to be the top of the top,” nose guard Adrian Taylor said. “That means we’re not going to give up the easy stuff that we might have given away last year.”
“We have to make up in our mind that we’ve got to be the best and if you’ve got to be the best, then you’ve got to tell yourself you’re the best.”
So, stingy, selfish, angry, mean and arrogant, too?
If it sounds like a bunch of baloney, it might be. But if these guys really believe it, if they’re taking great big bites of the baloney they’re serving up?
It might just work.
OU’s defense is bound to be better if only by virtue of experience. A year ago, the Sooners had new linebackers and new guys in the secondary. Up front looked pretty good, but question marks were everywhere.
This time around, the safeties are new and just about everything else has come back for more. This time around, guys know what’s going on because they’ve done it before.
“I think last year we didn’t trust ourselves and the defense,” said Beal. “This year, we have a lot more experience and we can trust in the defense and we can do more stuff.”
With that as a starting point, playing defense with a malevolent heart might become an easier chore.
Even Beal, not one to throw clichés around, recalls an attitude from last season that needed changing.
“We were kind of passive. You need to finish plays off, you need to finish all the way in the fourth quarter,” he said. “You need to be tougher in the long run.”
It’s fun to pick words apart.
Stingy. Selfish. Angry. Mean.
They pack a wallop here on the page, but if nobody performs on Saturdays they don’t mean a thing.
Yet while the Sooners are selling, they’re also buying.
“We weren’t as angry and mean as needed to be last year,” McCoy said, with absolute seriousness. “That’s going to change this year.”
Because they mean it, they’ve got a shot.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
