By any measuring stick, offenses ran amok in the Big 12 last season. Eight teams averaged over 30 points a game and three topped 40 on a consistent basis. It was a year when offensive coordinators and quarterbacks seemed to do no wrong.

Most defenses didn’t have an answer for the spread offenses most of the teams employed.

“Teams are throwing it 500-600 times a year,” Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel said. “It’s kind of hard not to throw for a bunch of yards.”

It’s a trend most expect to continue in 2008. Daniel is the conference’s preseason offensive player of the year and is one of 10 quarterbacks returning with starting experience. Most teams also have receivers coming off big seasons.

It isn’t a great time to be a defender.

“It’s extremely hard, because you have so many great players, so many great offenses and different formations going against you,” Oklahoma safety Nic Harris said. “It’s all about the preparation you put in throughout the course of the summer and the season.”

Harris is on the money. It is hard to play in the secondary in this day and age. Offenses get quicker and more deceptive every year. Keeping up is tough.

But history says the team that leads the league in defense has the best shot at winning the conference crown.

Since 1996, the team that gave up the fewest points in conference play has reached the Big 12 championship game 10 times and won six conference titles, including the last four.

The offensive leader has gained a berth in the December game just six times during that span and brought home the conference title just twice.

Those most responsible for the league’s offensive explosion — the quarterbacks — recognize the importance of what happens on the other side of the ball.

Missouri ran over everything in its path last season except for one team — Oklahoma.

The Sooners, who boasted the Big 12’s best defense, beat the Tigers twice last season, including a 38-17 victory in the Big 12 title game.

Daniel said it was a matter of OU being able to match up athletically with any offense.

“It was their speed. They were able to get us with four linemen without blitzing,” Daniel recalled from last season’s Big 12 championship game. “If you were asking me what I’d do to stop (a passing offense), I’d say a ridiculously good defensive line is best option.”

Then again, the Sooners have been the trend setter when it comes to defense since winning their first Big 12 title in 2000. OU’s has given up the fewest points in the league five times since 2000 and won the conference title four of those years. They’ve been the program that’s kept pace with the offensive onslaught the rest of the conference has rolled out. OU’s given up the fewest points in conference games the last two seasons.

Coach Bob Stoops said schemes aren’t the reason for his team’s success.

“I think the major factors are speed and athleticism on the field,” he said. “You have to have guys that can play in space, tackle in space, cover, pressure, do those kinds of things.”

The Sooners’ status as this season’s favorite to win the conference for an unprecedented third straight year is hitched to their consistent ability to match athletes with any offense in the league.

Recruiting has a lot to do with it, but Stoops’ background as a defensive coach also plays a role. Only three of the conference’s head coaches — Stoops, Nebraska’s Bo Pelini and Iowa State’s Gene Chizik — ascended to their jobs on the defensive side of the ball.

Even Texas A&M; coach Mike Sherman, who built his resume as a coach on offense, said defensive coordinators usually have a better feel for the game.

“Your defensive coordinator has to be a sharp guy that has seen everything,” Sherman said. “On offense you may be a veer team, a wishbone team, spread team, you need to know one offense. As a defensive coordinator you have to know all those offenses. You have to be able to stop them. You have to have a guy who has been in the mix with this.”

The 2008 season is less than a month away. OU begins preseason practice Monday for a season most believe will see Big 12 teams putting up huge offensive numbers.

The players scoring those touchdowns will get most of the attention over the next six months. But when the championships are handed out in December and January, defense will be the key to winning titles. History says that will be the case, even if defenses rarely gets their due.

“It’s not about credit,” Harris said. “It’s about who wins; that’s how a defense gets credit.”

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com