In three of their last four games, the Oklahoma Sooners looked to be making progress on the defensive side of the football. The Baylor game was the last performance where the Oklahoma defense really struggled.
Like the offense did a week ago, the defense played great for a quarter. But Oklahoma’s defense couldn’t sustain that dominance, and Texas Tech scored 51 points over the final three quarters and the first overtime to send the Sooners back to Norman with a loss.
After a strong performance a week ago against Oklahoma State, where they came up with key stops and turnovers to prevent the Cowboys from forging a comeback, Oklahoma’s defense couldn’t find the key plays to get off the field consistently in this game.
The defense allowed 599 total yards of offense. Tyler Shough torched Oklahoma all night, throwing for a career-high 436 yards and two touchdowns. His previous career high of 399 passing yards came in 2021 against Florida International.
The Sooners were just mentioned in the same light as Florida International.
They held the Texas Tech running game to 3.6 yards per carry, but the Red Raiders were good enough to sustain drives and take pressure off of Shough. According to Pro Football Focus, the Sooners’ defense only had Shough under pressure on 18 of his 55 dropbacks in the game.
A week after registering six sacks against the Cowboys, the Sooners were only able to sack Shough one time in the loss. Texas Tech was allowing more than three sacks per game coming into the contest. Oklahoma’s pass rush wasn’t good, and the coverage wasn’t much better.
Shough was able to complete 61% of his passes beyond 10 yards or more for 273 yards and 2 touchdowns. On throws of 20 yards or more, he was 3 of 6 for 102 yards and a touchdown.
The difference this week vs. last week, Oklahoma couldn’t get off the field on third or fourth down consistently enough. Texas Tech was 9 of 19 for a 47% conversion rate. Against Oklahoma State, the Sooners held the Cowboys to 7 of 24 on money downs. A conversion rate of just 29.1%. That’s a vast difference.
The defense wasted a strong offensive performance from Dillon Gabriel, Marvin Mims, Eric Gray, Theo Wease, and Brayden Willis. That side of the ball wasn’t perfect and the coaching staff left some points on the board, but Oklahoma should be able to win a game in which their offense scores 48 points.
It’s not good enough. Brent Venables and the defense have a lot of soul-searching to do in the wake of the loss.
Here’s a look at some of the best photos from Oklahoma’s loss to Texas Tech.