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Published Oct 29, 2021
OU's defense: Less talk, more action
Bob Przybylo  •  OUInsider
Staff Writer
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@BPrzybylo

It’s one of the responsibilities as a leader. When you reach that point, what you do, others are gonna notice and are gonna follow.

There’s a lot of positive with that, but there can be some negative. The negative is all too frequent right now when it comes to Oklahoma, specifically the defense.

The Sooners are 8-0 for the first time since 2004, but the month of October has been an absolute mess for Alex Grinch’s guys.

There were a lot of bad narratives about OU entering the 2021 season, but the one almost everybody agreed upon was that in Year No. 3 of Speed D, this was gonna be the best one yet.

Instead of progression, it’s been regression. Everybody has to take a look in the mirror, and if you’re an OU fan, you hope that started this week.

“As an older guy, I'll take full blame on it as a lot of the other leaders on the defense will too,” linebacker Nik Bonitto said. “Because it all starts with us. A lot of guys are going to look at us to see how we practice, what our preparation looks like. And if we're not upholding that standard to what practice is supposed to be like and feel like then obviously the guys that look up to us are going to follow after us and do the same thing.”

What usually triggers change? For the Sooners, it’s that first inexplicable loss. You know like Iowa State in 2017 or Texas in 2018 or Kansas State in 2019. That loss that leaves fans scratching their heads and forces the coaches to make some sort of move, some sort of adjustment.

It’s a lot easier to implement that because things went bad. But what about when things still feel good, at least on the surface?

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That’s been the fight and the struggle. Everybody says it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Well, OU’s defense has been broken this last month. It’s OK to attempt to fix it.

“I use the example with the guys — if you don’t study very well for a test but you still pass it, does that drive a behavior saying, 'well this is all I need to do to go pass the next test,' and eventually it catches up to you,” Grinch said. “That’s a simple analogy and it sounds really good, but there’s something to that.”

There’s always going to be that qualifier because you’re not talking about just some guys with players like Delarrin Turner-Yell, Woodi Washington, D.J. Graham and Jalen Redmond out. Get that, understand that, but those absences have nothing to do with a perceived lack of focus that has been there.

The Sooners have leaders galore on defense. From Bonitto to Isaiah Thomas to Perrion Winfrey to captains like Pat Fields and Caleb Kelly, there are enough voices in that room.

For Grinch, it’s not about finding another voice. It’s about action.

“The biggest thing for those guys, how do you help fix situations is to be a better practice player, bringing a guy with you,” Grinch said. “We do so much talk in defensive meetings every day, a kind of theme of the week, and embarrassed to mention that because if the messaging is right and it doesn’t land it doesn’t do you a whole lot of good. So to talk more… We’re nine weeks into this thing. It’s a little bit more on the side of action, right?

“So for those guys, perform better. Be the guy in practice that we’ve got to say we can’t get a snap off on the scout team if we put you out there. Be that dramatic of an impact there from a practice player standpoint and then subsequently over the course of the game. Be the action-able example, not one more voice.”

A hallmark of OU teams under Lincoln Riley, whether as an offensive coordinator or head coach, has been the steady improvement of the Sooners to where the team is rounding into form come ‘Championship November.’

Riley said don’t count this group out and that there isn’t a major disconnect. If that’s true, it starts Saturday vs. Texas Tech.

“Everybody in this program watched every move that Baker Mayfield made. Every move,” Riley said. “Kenneth Murray, anything he did, back of his career, was noticed. It’s always impactful. If you’re doing the right thing, if you’re preparing the right way, playing the right way, working the right way, it not only helps you as a player, it impacts those around you.”

If that’s true, it starts with the leaders. No more missed wakeup calls, no more head-shaking performances. You only got a few of these left. Time to make them count because everything is still on the table for this OU team, as flawed as it has been and the roller coaster it has taken its fans on so far. Everything is still within reach.