Middle of OU defense on spot vs. Texas
BY DAVID UBBEN
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Published: October 14, 2009
NORMAN — Faced with a single play to all but end the game, Oklahoma let Brigham Young tight end Dennis Pitta slip through the middle of its defense and catch his seventh pass of the game, a 23-yard reception on fourth-and-four, to keep the Cougars’ game-winning drive alive.
A month later,
Miami tight end
Dedrick Epps snatched an 11-yard go-ahead touchdown that gave the Hurricanes a lead they never gave back.
Those two plays were a major part of Oklahoma’s two losses. Two plays that, no matter how well the defense plays for the other hundreds of snaps, will be impossible to erase.
But last season against
Texas, the center of the Sooner defense gave up a lot more than two plays. Speedy receiver
Jordan Shipley hauled in 11 passes, several underneath the second level of the defense, and as varied as the receiver’s role in the Longhorns’ offense is, there’s little reason to believe he won’t spend his Saturday being chased by Sooner linebackers again.
"It hurt us in some instances, but not as much as people write about or say,” said sophomore linebacker
Travis Lewis. "They attacked that middle of the defense, and we gave up some plays.”
If No. 20 Oklahoma wants to upset No. 3 Texas in
Dallas, it will have to limit the plays that have plagued its disappointing season and contributed to the team’s sole regular-season loss in 2008.
"We always feel pressure to stop passes,” said defensive coordinator
Brent Venables. "But we have to minimize the short passing game.”
The "how” is the hard part.
"It’s about 80 percent linebackers,” Lewis said. "We shut down the middle. It’s big time on the linebackers.”
Coach Bob Stoops said revising his strategy to defend passes underneath was part of the solution, but in many of the defense’s collapses, players were in position to make tackles or break up passes and failed to do so.
"We’ve got to tackle better. That’s a must,” said senior linebacker
Keenan Clayton. "Do what the defense is designed for you to do. Everything else will take care of itself.”
But Lewis says preparation is the key to getting those stops. Wait until Saturday and it’s already too late.
"It’s players knowing the defense, going out and executing,” he said. "Really getting in and studying and knowing the game plan.”
Texas doesn’t have the game-breaking tight end it had in 2007, when
Jermichael Finley caught four passes for 149 yards and a touchdown.
But last year, the Longhorns took advantage of the middle, moving Shipley to inside receiver to allow quarterback
Colt McCoy to maximize his amount of touches.
"You have to be aware of where he is and how you’re covering him,” Stoops said. "They move him around to give him more opportunities to have his hands on the ball.”
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I don't think Brandon saw the field the rest of the year. The next three opponents wore out that soft spot while it was a revolving door before Balogen sort of locked it down.
If we don't have a strategy to limit the damage Shipley does in the intermediate passing game, we are gonna be looking a non-New Year's Day bowl square in the face. Probably the Holiday Bowl, unless we slip against Tech, Okie State, or Nebraska. This game is really for all the marbles right now. Now is the time to shine. The defense MUST be prepared to shut every team out in every game. It might take that kind of Herculean effort to get where we need to go.
Fair? Probably not.
Necessary? It may well be.