All Oklahoma needed was a competent defense, but the Sooners got a good one instead.
The Oklahoma defense, behind the leadership of first-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, has been good for the majority of the 2019 season. When one watches them, they’ll see a defense that gets lined up, plays extremely fast, swarms to the football and is all pulling on the same string.
The stats back up what you see.
None, though, are bigger than what Oklahoma has done on third down and in the red zone.
With Mike Stoops and then Ruffin McNeil leading the way in 2018, the Sooners were 118th in third down conversion percentage allowed at 46.38 percent of the time. In 2019 with Grinch, Oklahoma is 15th in the country in third down conversion percentage allowed at 31.61 percent of third downs being converted.
The Sooners continue to be one of the worst red zone defenses in the country with the 2018 and 2019 defense being ranked in the bottom 10 of college football. That, though, doesn’t tell the whole story.
Oklahoma allowed 50 scores on 54 red zone defensive opportunities in 2018. Of those 50 scores, 45 of them ended up in touchdowns to just five field goals. In 2019, the Sooners have allowed 40 scores on 43 red zone defensive opportunities. Only 27 touchdowns were allowed on those 40 scores to 13 field goals.
If Oklahoma would have held to teams to the same percent of field goals in 2018 to what they did in 2019, the Sooners would have saved 44 more points from opponents a year ago. That doesn’t account for the fact that Oklahoma has increased from 0.9 turnovers on offense a game to 1.5 turnovers a game on offense this season, giving Oklahoma’s defense more possessions to defend.
Those two aren’t the only improvements on the season.
Here is how the rest look:
Oklahoma will take on LSU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.
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