The #Sooners conquered TCU on Saturday in a 52-31 homecoming win. Watch our highlights from the game:
Filmed by Georgia Bomar and Justin Jayne
Edited by Georgia Bomar
Oklahoma’s secondary has been bitten by the injury bug, resulting in a slew of underwhelming performances in recent games.
The Sooners’ defensive backs allowed 346 passing yards against TCU last week and 388 against Texas on Oct. 9. Amid replacing now-NFL defensive backs Tre Brown and Tre Norwood, OU coach Lincoln Riley didn’t shy away from acknowledging the unit’s mishaps.
“We certainly have had a few chances that we didn’t make,” Riley said. “But I think the biggest thing that I’ve seen is, I think, coverage wise, we’re not quite where we were at some points last year right now.”
However, shortcomings provide OU’s defensive backfield a chance to strengthen its depth. The Sooners’ secondary is currently missing Delarrin Turner-Yell, Woodi Washington, Jeremiah Criddell and D.J. Graham, who exited during the second quarter against the Horned Frogs, due to injury.
In response, defensive coordinator Alex Grinch opted with freshman Billy Bowman at cornerback for the first time all season last Saturday. He also rotated in sophomore Joshua Eaton, freshman Latrell McCutchin and junior Jaden Davis, who didn’t start against the Horned Frogs after his shaky performance against the Longhorns.
“We’ve had to make it work,” Riley said on Tuesday. “We’ve had to develop depth. There’s always, when you have some guys out that, yeah, you wish you had them, but at the same time there’s somebody who’s going to step in and take those reps and get better. We’re seeing a little bit of both. I think they’ve held the fort down quite pretty good.”
OU’s defense allowed seven explosive plays of 20 or more yards through the air against TCU, moving its Expected Points Allowed to 0.399, which ranks No. 128 out of 130 FBS teams. Despite the injuries, Grinch expects more from his players.
OKLAHOMA @ KANSAS pic.twitter.com/q2K9xGn24w
— parker (@statsowar) October 19, 2021
“Sometimes the stats don’t tell the story, sometimes they do,” Grinch said. “And I think in this particular case they very much did. Explosive plays through the air, very disappointed in those. It’s very difficult to play good enough defense when one play goes for 75 yards. … Given the (explosiveness) through the air, in no way, shape or form is it a performance we can defend.”
The Horned Frogs kept the Sooners from pulling away with their big-play ability. OU pulled ahead by 17 in the third quarter, but allowed TCU a 75-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing drive.
Then, during the fourth quarter, the Horned Frogs completed a 25-yard touchdown pass where Eaton had his hands wrapped around the ball in the endzone, but so did receiver Quentin Johnson, who won the battle.
Don’t let Caleb Williams’ debut distract you from Quentin Johnson’s performance tonight 😱He currently has 7 catches for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns pic.twitter.com/AXYvaF9qrN
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) October 17, 2021
Although Riley was open about the secondary’s disappointing performances, he expects the group to improve as experience is developed from younger contributors, and injury recovery begins.
“I thought we were in position,” Riley said. “I think as those guys settle in more they’re going to make more of those plays and we expect them to.”
Key Lawrence’s improvement
Sophomore safety Key Lawrence has been forced into a prominent role with the abundance of injuries in the secondary.
The former Tennessee transfer recorded a career-high seven tackles against the Horned Frogs, tied for second on the team. He also made his first-career start for the Sooners, with Turner-Yell out due to injury, Bowman at cornerback and senior Justin Broiles starting at nickelback.
“I've already gotten so much more comfortable now that I’ve had so much repetition in practice,” Lawrence said. “I think I’m pretty comfortable with (the defense).”
Lawrence tallied just eight tackles for the Volunteers last season as a freshman, but Riley and company have high expectations for the former four-star recruit.
“Key Lawrence has gotten so many more plays and you can tell is really starting to get more comfortable,” Riley said. “(He) played his best game for us up to this point the other night.”
Justin Broiles’ emergence
Fifth-year senior safety Justin Broiles is just three tackles away from tying his single-season career high of 26 just seven games into the season.
Broiles, the former four-star and top-ranked recruit in the state of Oklahoma, has stuck around and carved out an important role in the Sooners’ secondary, despite getting limited playing time throughout his career. He has made starts at nickelback and safety this season.
“Where would we be in the secondary right now without Justin Broiles?” Riley said. “He’s probably been our best secondary player this year. … (Redshirt senior offensive lineman Erik Swenson and Broiles) are two of the most valuable players on our roster.”
No. 3 Oklahoma (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) plays Kansas (1-5, 0-3 ) at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 23 in Lawrence.
