The Sooners' defense in week one looked like it had some flaws. However, after Saturday’s victory over Idaho State, the defensive has something solid to build on.

The Sooners' defense shut out the Bengals and was able to provide some scoring as well with a fumble recovery for a touchdown. The defense was as relentless as the rain was; the Sooners did not slow down all game and held the Bengals to a total of 44 yards on offense. Even more impressive is that the Sooners did not allow the Bengals to gain positive running yardage for the entire game, the Bengals rushed for negative 22 yards on the night.

The Sooners defense was so strong, behind the solid play of linebackers Ryan Reynolds and Travis Lewis, that it did not allow the Bengals to get a first down until the second quarter.

“We went out there with a chip on our shoulder tonight,” said Lewis after the game Saturday, “We really played like we had a lot to prove.”

The Sooners needed a strong performance to get rid of the bad taste left in their mouths by BYU a week earlier. After Saturday's game the Sooners looked like they were able to correct mistakes they made the previous week and build some momentum for the defense for upcoming weeks.

“We were definitely more consistent tonight, we played hard and most importantly smarter,” said defensive tackle Gerald McCoy after Saturday’s victory.

Next week the Sooners will face off against the Tulsa Hurricane and will look to continue their strong defensive play.

“They're an excellent football team,” said head coach Bob Stoops about the Hurricanes, “They have been winning eleven, twelve games a year, so were aware of them.”

The Sooners are 15-7-1 all time against the Hurricane and have not lost to Tulsa since 1996. If the Sooners defense is able to play the way it did against Idaho State next week it should be able to improve on that record and continue to build momentum and confidence for the season.