It was early in the game against the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Red Wolves quarterback [autotag]J.T. Strout[/autotag] scrambled to the right and just after he crossed the out-of-bounds line, Oklahoma Sooners safety [autotag]Reggie Pearson[/autotag] laid a huge hit.
That hit drew a 15-yard penalty on the Sooners. But what happened the very next play was something we aren’t typically used to seeing from an [autotag]Oklahoma defense[/autotag].
We’ve seen it countless times. A bad penalty eventually leads to a touchdown as the defense is never able to recover. But not on Saturday. Instead the very next play Pearson blew up a running play for a one-yard loss. Two plays later, the Red Wolves were punting.
While Pearson wasn’t at Oklahoma a year ago, he told reporters there is a difference between this year’s unit and last year’s unit.
“We are a fast, complete, suffocating defense,” Pearson said. “I feel like that’s what has changed from last year from what I’ve seen from OU’s defense to now. Just being on every single play and rallying to everything and making sure we get guys down. Honing in on our communication. That’s a big thing too. We’re super physical. We’re faster than a lot of people thought we were.”
That physicality and speed were on display early and often. While it was against a lower-level opponent, you could still tell it just looked different than a year ago. Will the results be different than a year ago is the main question.
One Oklahoma has a chance to further answer come this Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.
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