The Good: This team plays defense
It feels strange to say it, but this team is a defensive team all of a sudden. After holding the Nebraska Cornhuskers to 16 points and West Virginia to 13, the defense is more than holding up their end of the bargain in 2021.
That hasn’t always been the case.
For years, the question was, “could the defense hold them to 30 or force them to punt?” Now, the defense is holding them to fewer than 20, forcing punts and forcing turnovers.
It’s a good defense.
Sure, they allowed 35 to Tulane, but that was week one, against a highly emotional and motivated Green Wave team that caught the Sooners sleeping after halftime. That second quarter looked about as dominant as any has looked in recent memory.
West Virginia was able to move the ball some but had few sustained drives. After the opening drive where they marched down the field for a touchdown, the Sooners rebounded to allow just six points the rest of the way—all while recording just one turnover and one sack on the evening.
They held the West Virginia ground game to just 2.3 yards per carry on the evening and kept Leddie Brown out of the end zone for the first time this season. All in all, a good performance.