The No. 4 Oklahoma (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) defeated TCU (3-3, 1-2) 52-31 in Norman on Saturday.
Despite earning the win, the Sooners’ defense was torched for 529 yards and 7.9 yards per play. Senior safety Pat Fields paced OU with eight tackles.
Here’s what defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said after the game:
On the weakened depth of the defensive back room:
“It forces some young guys into action, and (we) have to try to find ways to put them in situations where they can be successful. So that's something we've got to look at doing a better job of obviously, as a defensive staff.
“It's a tall order for young guys, young guys are targets a lot of times and then you have to find a way to make a play when the ball’s in the air. And obviously, there's not many (plays) we made tonight so we have to look at finding ways to put those guys in better situations.
“And no, it is concerning, hopefully (we) get guys healthy and that is something that in the coming weeks we'll kind of see where that goes when we get guys back, but in any event, I think there's some, some young guys we're excited about and we have to do a better job of putting them into a situation to be successful.”
On Brian Asamoah’s performance:
“I think the biggest thing for him and everybody defensively is just consistency. There was one point where we said, to be an elite group, you have to be consistent. I think at this moment, just as we sit here through seven games, to be an average group we have to be more consistent. He would be included in that group. And so from a coaching standpoint, all of us have to do a better job to get more consistent.
“And it's not effort, I'll be surprised if it is as I look at it on, on the video, but just consistency in terms of the execution and consistency in terms of the tackling and all those things and so everybody shares blame that way, but no, he made some plays tonight and we're dying for guys to make plays. We didn't make many, but no, he certainly made a few.”
On DaShaun White’s fumble return:
“I mean you're trying to make a play and the obvious answer is you can't do that, I mean you have to know better and in that moment that's the risk-reward element of things. Latrell (McCutchin), another young corner, made a play, got the ball out, which was tremendous and it's good to get a scoop there by DaShaun and we just have to be smarter, as excited as you get when you see that that endzone coming, have to be smart that way.
“Obviously it's good to get one takeaway, but certainly disappointed we're unable not to come down with one or two on the day. We were in position to do so and were disappointed that way, but I think it's 13 straight games with a takeaway. I don't want to minimize that because those are big plays, but obviously when you hand it back to them, it's kind of the tail leading force with the inability to get any momentum.”
On overall performance:
“There's not a lot of teams in the country that are 7-0 and obviously our expectation is a whole lot higher, in terms of our performance, a whole lot higher than what we've been putting on film over the last couple of weeks. And so there's a pattern forming and that's the first thing you think about, what are the things you have to fix.
“You have two options as a coach, you enhance things that are good or you fix things that are bad and there's a lot of fixes right now. But certainly, to be a 7-0 football team and not play your best football and then still, find a way to make enough plays, to get enough stops to find yourself in the win category is certainly exciting.
“I'm excited for the guys, that they can celebrate another victory on a Saturday night. But I also think there's better football in us and I believe that. And, despite kind of getting proven wrong here, recently I still have a belief in this group and from young guys to old guys I think our best football is in front of us and we gotta get it out of them as a coach.”
On Pat Fields:
“I think Pat’s been a steady guy for us, he really has, he hasn't had a lot of balls actually thrown his way in coverage, maybe as much as some other guys. He's been steady, you have (Delarrin) Turner-Yell out, you have Woodi (Washington) out, obviously D.J. (Graham) went out tonight. And so, a guy like Keyshawn Lawrence stepped up, Justin Broiles stepped up.
“I've been overall pleased, I think, as you watch it there's still more opportunities and he's not immune to having issues and right now just the, when you when you don't tackle very well and you don't get the quarterback on the ground and then you get the explosive play through the air, you circle everybody as being a part of this thing.
“So it's hard to trump with one guy and say he did a great job. We needed those guys to play a lot of snaps for us, with where we're at right now, so I’ve been pleased.”
