After the unexpected off week, Oklahoma football was back in the Palace on the Prarie for one last home game of the season. Taking on a struggling 2-6 Baylor, the Sooners were ready to secure their spot in the Big 12 Conference championship.
Though Baylor’s record is, for a lack of words, bad. This does not necessarily mean that Baylor is a bad team altogether. Looking at the Bears’ record, they barely lost in every single game they played this year. Their one area of struggle is on the offensive side of the ball. However, Baylor’s defense has proven week after week, including against the Sooners, that it is just as strong as we saw last season.
Though the Baylor defense did make it very difficult for the Sooners to meet the end zone on Saturday night, Oklahoma football still came out on top taking down the Baylor 27-14, the largest margin of a win from any Big 12 team against the Bears this year.
Sooner Defense
The Sooners defense has continued to show improvement week after week. It has gotten to the point that in games like on Saturday when the defense often looks to be stronger than Oklahoma’s offense. Some players in particular are really starting to stand out as defensive leaders for the new and improved defense.
Sooner safety Delarrin Turner-Yell seems to be the standout defender for the Sooners completing a total of seven tackles, five of those seven being solos, with the other two being assists. This is a big step up for the Oklahoma D as it seemed to be struggling a lot with breakaway plays and backfield coverage earlier in the season.
Along with Turner-Yell, Tre Brown seems to be one of the guys to talk about on the Sooner defense as of lately. Brown has caught at least one interception in almost every game since the two losses early on in the season, including one last night. Brown also completed five tackles last night with all five of them being solos.
Overall, the Sooners defense is starting to become a defense that other teams should worry about. Continuing to put trust in defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, OU’s defense seems to have significantly stepped its game up from what we have seen in the past two years.
Sooner Offense
As for the Sooner offense, it seems that its off week did not do it any good. After being incredibly fired up the past few games, it appears that OU’s offense kind of flat-lined on Saturday night.
No, Oklahoma’s offense did not play bad, but it just did not play to the caliber we have seen these past few weekends. It is also important to note that it was difficult to decide whether OU’s offense was just not playing that great or if Baylor’s defense was just playing really well.
Nonetheless, there was still plenty of standout Sooners on offense from last night. OU wide receiver Theo Wease saw the ball many times was consistent in his completions. Wease racked up a total of five pass completions, one touchdown and 66 total yards for the night. Wease has definitely been a consistency for the Sooners this year as it has been very apparent the slow and constant improvements the true sophomore has made this year.
Alongside Wease, we have the man himself, Rhamondre Stevenson. Ever since Stevenson returned to the field he has made a major impact on not only the play but the energy that comes with the Sooners offense. The senior running back rushed for 55 yards total with one touchdown completion, along with 48 receiving yards. Stevenson has consistently had some of the most rushing and receiving yards every week for the Sooners since his return.
What’s next?
Next week, Oklahoma football will be taking on West Virginia in Morgantown due to the rescheduling of their game that was supposed to fall the weekend after Thanksgiving. Following their trip to Morgantown, the Sooners will be making what has started to become their annual trip to Dallas, Texas for the Big 12 championship against Iowa State.
Photo courtesy of BaylorBears.com
