NORMAN — As is tradition, the Sooners handed out a game ball after Friday's 51-3 win over.
The defense had a ton of worthy candidates. Four different players forced fumbles, and three different players recovered them; Kani Walker and Jayden Hardy both snagged interceptions, and Walker's came courtesy of a pass break-up by Kendel Dolby; Jaren Kanak scored on a fumble recovery on special teams; Markus Strong led the team with two sacks.
But the Sooners went in a different direction, handing the game ball to defensive coordinator Zac Alley, who recorded his first win on the staff while leading a dominant defensive effort against the Owls.
The players made sure to help Alley celebrate.
“It was pretty cool," Alley said. "I got lifted off the ground afterward and got thrown up about seven times, about flipped on my head. But no, it was just amazing.
"Our players are just incredible with everything they’ve been through the last eight months, to grind through the summer and just getting ready for this moment. It wasn’t really me doing anything special; it was all them out on the field, and they make the plays. I’m just here to help them along. It was awesome to get to experience that with them and get to celebrate.”
The defense was expected to dominate against a lowly Owls team, and they did exactly that.
The Sooners jumped on the Temple offense from the first drive, forcing a three and out on the first possession. On the second series, Ethan Downs forced a fumble that was recovered by Da'Jon Terry — the first takeaway of the season.
That was one six takeaways for the Sooners, the most in a game for the program since 2003. After forcing just six fumbles all of last season, they forced four against the Owls.
“A lot of work goes into this first game," Alley said. "You hit each other for eight months, and you finally get to go out and play somebody. All the things you work on, all the things you preach — the turnovers, disguising the multiplicity, just the effort it takes to win a game, the toughness — just to get to see that on display tonight, more than anything, I feel like we played a game where, man, no matter who it was that got in had an opportunity and they played hard. They tried to play disciplined, and we did a really good job attacking the ball.”
Both sides of the ball implemented a mostly-vanilla game plan, but the defense still played with an obvious edge. The Owls finished with just 197 total yards, including just 80 yards in the first half, while averaging just 3.2 yards per play. They sacked Temple quarterback Forrest Brock six times, which is more sacks than any game last season.
That effort stayed steady no matter who was in the game, and that was impressive considering the Sooners played 42 players on defense.
"Thought the defense from start to finish really played outstanding," OU coach Brent Venables said. "Six sacks, nine tackles for loss, forced six turnovers and scored a touchdown. First time I think we’ve had six turnovers in a game since 2003. We only had six forced fumbles last year, we had four tonight. I loved how aggressive and confident our guys were moving around, flying at the ball, being aggressive in knocking the ball loose. Fantastic job."
But maybe most importantly, the game was further evidence that Alley is settling in. He called of the plays against Temple, Venables confirmed, and the aggressiveness associated with Venables' defenses was still on display He's taken a bigger control of the defense since he arrived in January, particularly in comparison to former defensive coordinator Ted Roof.
It's not a surprise, given that Alley spent eight years alongside Venables at Clemson. But it was an encouraging sign that there's more cohesiveness on defense heading into the third season under Venables, and Alley is a big reason why.
"Things went like we hoped it would go," Venables said. "I loved the aggressiveness. We forced a lot of turnovers, excellent positioning and depth of guys that knew what to do. All the coaches did a nice job of getting guys ready. It was great for Zac. Those guys had confidence going into the game and certainly will take confidence out. Now we have to start over and learn the DNA of a new opponent.
"He got the game ball and swag-surfed. I think that's what it's called."
The Sooners will face much stiffer tests moving forward, and that includes Houston and Tulane over the next two weeks. But for Week 1, the Sooners were expected to dominate defensively, and they passed the test.
So did Alley.
"He's an incredible coach," OU tight end Bauer Sharp said, "and he makes things easy to understand and explains and coaches very well and genuinely makes us better as a defense and better players. And he really knows how to how to get into the nitty gritty of it and find ways to make us better. So we're excited for the future with him."
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