The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] put out a dominant defensive effort in Week 1 versus the [autotag]Arkansas State Red Wolves[/autotag]. The Sooners pitched just their fourth shutout in the last 10 years.
The defense looked confident in Year 2 under [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. They weren’t second-guessing themselves as much and just hitting the holes they needed to fill. That doesn’t mean there weren’t any issues. Arkansas State hit them for a couple of big gains in the passing game.
But overall this looked like a much more confident bunch.
All offseason we heard about “competitive depth” and that was on display Saturday as well. There wasn’t a noticeable drop-off when the backups came in at most positions.
Defensive Coordinator Ted Roof told reporters after the game it was good to play so many guys.
“It helps your locker room, it helps your practice field,” Roof said. “I think we played 44 guys today, which I think is four deep. For especially the guys who got their first action ever, kind of show them what it’s like so that was their first ever. Great start for us but that’s exactly what it was, a start.”
There is no doubt the Sooners now have to build off of this performance but it was a great start to the season.
The Oklahoma Sooners will get their first test of the season when the SMU Mustangs come to town next weekend. SMU bring a high-powered offense with them. The Mustangs scored 31 first Hal points before cruising to victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
There were a lot of positives to take away from Oklahoma’s performance and some other thing to take a look at when they review the game film. But as Ted Roof mentioned, it was a start.
Could it be the start of something special in Norman? Time will tell.
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