As No. 13 OU (6-1, 2-1 SEC) continues its second-half gauntlet, Saturday will feature a new challenge for a defense ranked No. 1 in the country in opponent yards per game.
The Sooners welcome No. 8 Mississippi (6-1, 3-1) and head coach Lane Kiffin, who are known for their fast-paced offense. Mississippi ranks No. 10 in the country in seconds per play and No. 3 in the Southeastern Conference in total offense. Mississippi sophomore running back Kewan Lacy also ranks No. 3 in the conference in rushing yards.
As this is the first time the Sooners will face a top-10-paced offense this season, the OU defense is preaching communication to combat the speed.
“It’s definitely all about communication,” sophomore defensive back Reggie Powers III said. “We know it’s going to be a loud game, so just making sure we’re all on the same page and communicating every play is going to be a big part of that.”
Despite the matchup’s magnitude, OU plans to stick to its normal defensive preparation.
“It’s the same thing every week,” redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Taylor Wein said. “We’re really process driven. … All we’re worried about is onto the next.”
Kiffin acknowledged the difficulty that comes with facing the Sooners’ defense.
“It seems like they’ve got a really good beat on the plays that are coming when they’re called,” Kiffin said in his Monday press conference. “And they do a great job of taking those (plays) away.”
In a 24-17 win over Auburn on Sept. 20, OU tied a program record with nine sacks and forced Auburn to go 3-15 on third down in the game. Kiffin said that he believes the Sooners knew Auburn's offensive calls in advance.
“When you look at the Auburn game, I told Hugh (Freeze) after (I had been) watching it, you might want to switch your signals; it looks like they have the plays.” Kiffin said.
Venables sees Kiffin’s comments as a compliment and praised his defensive players.
“Coming from Lane, I take it as a compliment,” Venables said. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared because that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless."
Venables, however, added that Kiffin's compliment was "weird" and that discussing plays is not unusual.
“Honestly, I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled,” Venables said. “I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled, and between that and the helmet communication, … I’ll take that as a weird kind of compliment.”
Regardless of tempo and schemes, OU head coach Brent Venables is familiar with the type of offense Kiffin likes to run. Venables and Kiffin played each other in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship while Venables was a defensive coordinator at Clemson, and Kiffin was an offensive coordinator at Alabama.
This time, they’ll meet in a top-15 matchup in Norman before OU faces four more ranked teams to close the 2025 regular season.
“We’re always up for the challenge of playing great competition," Powers said, “and I think we play better when we play great competition.”
This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel.
