The Oklahoma football defense has been brainwashed, and that’s a good thing. First-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has preached so many things in his first 10 months in Norman and has found a way to make them stick.

His newest trick might be the best one yet from the assistant coach who is a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Grinch has harped on takeaways equal victories. The equation was two takeaways per contest would result in nine wins. At OU, though, the equation has been skewed. As the Sooners offense started to rack up the giveaways, the defense couldn’t reciprocate.

In the first six conference games, the Sooners earned one takeaway, 11 below the standard Grinch has always believed in. Somehow, OU managed to go 5-1 during that span. But if the Sooners were going to have any realistic dreams of making it back to the college football playoff, something had to change.

It was Grinch who did just that. Takeaway? Fantastic. If not, work your butt off to get the three-and-out and get off the field.

One way or another, get off the field.

“I think you are always searching for way to just make practices as game-like as you possibly can,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “It’s been a way for us. We’ve obviously practiced situations like everyone else does, but instead of mindlessly running a lot of plays in a row to make it more game-like, you create some of the same emotions like ‘all right, we have a three-and-out and feeling good and off the field. Or they got a first down so we have to get a three-and-out or a takeaway regardless if something bad happened to us or if they made a play on us, how do we respond?’

“It just puts our guys in that scenario a little bit more often. Our defensive staff came up with it and our guys have really taken to it.”

After looking like one of the best teams in the nation in the 7-0 start, things started to unravel a bit in the 48-41 loss to Kansas State and the narrow 42-41 win vs. Iowa State.

Lack of takeaways, for sure, a combined zero. But the inability to get off the field resonated as much. KSU was 6-of-13 on third downs and converted its only fourth down attempt. The Cyclones were 4-of-11 on third and 1-of-2 on fourth down.

Practice changed after that week. Grinch installed a three-and-out, takeaway routine to the extreme. If the defense doesn’t stop the offense three straight plays, the reps keep coming. Offense gets a first down on a second down, add another three plays.

Instead of perhaps the mental block the takeaway dilemma was causing, the OU defense was focused on one or the other. It has worked so far in the historic 34-31 win at Baylor and last week’s 28-24 victory vs. TCU.

Baylor was 4-of-9 on third downs, while the Sooners forced two turnovers in the second half and shut out the Bears in the second half.

Springboarding off that result, OU’s defense was at another level vs. TCU. The Horned Frogs were a paltry 1-of-9 on third down. And the only fourth down try? Intercepted by Brendan Radley-Hiles to seal the deal in the last two minutes.

“That's all that counts,” Radley-Hiles said. “Any situation, regardless, that's real. We believe in it. That's really our mentality.”

The scoreboard doesn’t matter. If you’re worried about the score, then you’re focusing on the wrong thing, Grinch said. It cannot affect your performance.

“One of our big emphasis is at some point you've got to get three good plays in a row or a takeaway,” Grinch said. “Those are the only two ways to get off the field. One of the things we did this week was show them NFL football and show them, OK, what's the score. What's the matter? What's the defense have to do to get a three-and-out, get a takeaway?

“For lack of a better way to put it, they've been brainwashed that way. Because that's football. No matter what the situation reads, no matter what the scoreboard reads your performance matters. We can't give them any other agreement than that, that we need to get a stop. I think they're starting to embrace it because it's real, you can't punch holes in it.”

Maybe it sounds a little loony, certainly unconventional, but it’s paying off for the Sooners. The results are there the last two weeks. And if OU can continue to be ‘brainwashed’ the same way the next two games, the Sooners could very well be back in the playoff for the fourth time in five seasons.