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Mon September 17, 2007

Sooners face a test

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Oklahoma's Auston English and the Sooner defense could face a stiff test on Friday against Tulsa. BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER THE OKLAHOMAN

Breaking down Tulsa

•Location: Tulsa

•Enrollment: 4,100

•Mascot: Golden

Hurricane

•Conference: Conference

USA

•Record: 2-0

•Last game: Tulsa and BYU combined for nearly 1,300 total yards in a 55-47 win by the Golden Hurricane at home Saturday night.

•Best player: Quarterback Paul Smith threw for a career high 454 yards and five touchdowns in Saturday's win and runs an offense that can score at just about any time from anywhere on the field. He has a career record of 19-9 as the Tulsa starter.

•Why they could win: Smith is one of the three best quarterbacks OU will face this season, and the Sooners have tape of just two games to evaluate the new Tulsa coaching staff's philosophy and tendencies.

•Why they could lose: OU is really good, especially in the defensive secondary. And the Sooner offense is running efficiently. BYU had 694 yards against the Golden Hurricane.

•Noteworthy: Although OU and Tulsa first met in 1914, they've only played 22 times. OU leads the series 14-7-1. This will be the ninth meeting in Tulsa, where OU has won five times.

By Scott Wright

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Jake Trotter
Staff Writer
NORMAN — Three games.

Three wins.

Three bad offenses.

So far, Oklahoma's defense has manhandled North Texas, Miami and Utah State — offenses ranked among the worst in college football this and last season, offenses that don't sharpen a defense.




With Texas just three weeks away in a make-or-break showdown, OU's talented defense needs to be sharp.

Friday, the Sooner defense will see how it stacks up against a better offense when OU travels to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane's high-powered attack.

Late Saturday night, Tulsa made a stout Brigham Young defense look porous as the Golden Hurricane racked up 595 yards in a 55-47 victory.

Last week, OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables raved about Tulsa's no-huddle, hurry-up scheme brought in by former Arkansas coordinator Gus Malzahn.

And that offense, behind senior quarterback Paul Smith, carved up the Cougars, who had the 10th-best defense last year and held Arizona to just a touchdown in the opener.

Tulsa is scoring 45 points a game running a scheme, shared by the Longhorns, that relies on operating both the run and pass out of the shotgun.

OU needs to capitalize off playing against a competent offense to hone its defense for Texas.

The Sooners' first three opponents and Colorado — OU's opponent after Tulsa — are lousy offensively.

North Texas scored 31 points against Southern Methodist, but ranked 115th in the country in scoring last year and against OU somehow made Utah State look like Warren Moon's Houston Oilers.

That's impressive, because the Aggies finished 117th in offense last season and are ranked just 116th this year.

And as good as Miami's defense is, the offense has been horrible of late.

Last year, the Hurricanes ranked 87th in scoring, but only because Miami scored a combined 86 points against Florida A&M and Florida International.

Without those totals, Miami would've ranked 108th.

Miami might be worse, too, this year, managing just 23 points this time against FIU.

Colorado can't score either, putting up just six points at home Saturday in a loss to Florida State.

Texas may be struggling but the Longhorns still have pop, scoring 30 points a game.

OU's first three games don't mean much. The Tulsa tune-up will serve as the benchmark for how dominant this Sooner defense can be.

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