Berry Tramel, Sports columnist
Berry Tramel: No defense -- With offensive stars injured, Sooners fail to get a stop when they need it most
By Berry Tramel
Comments 
174
Published: October 4, 2009
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — They trotted onto the field with 4:18 left, these Oklahoma defenders who had been handed the responsibility of keeping national championship hopes alive.
OU’s Keenan Clayton, left, reacts after a Miami touchdown in the third quarter at Land Shark Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The Sooner defense came up flat against the Hurricanes. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Multimedia
Get a stop, say a prayer and see if somehow a one-point deficit could be overcome in this land of so many great Sooner moments.
And Miami’s offense handed the
Sooners their heads.
The Hurricanes zapped all excitement and all expectations from the Oklahoma season with a 21-20 victory Saturday night at Land Shark Stadium, and most hurtful of all was this: Defense let down the Sooners.
On a night when OU played without its three best ballhandlers —
Sam Bradford,
Jermaine Gresham and, for 59 minutes,
Ryan Broyles — the Sooners needed the defense to win it for them.
It failed.
"They put the game in our hands again, and we didn’t get it done,” said d-tackle
G.K. McCoy. "It’s on us.”
Forgive the defense its late-game letdown against
Brigham Young. That was one drive. This was the entire game.
Sure, OU’s defense allowed just two real touchdown drives, since one Miami score came after
Landry Jones’ fumble at the Sooner 11-yard line.
But the two scoring drives were doozies: 91 and 72 yards. And that final drive told the tale. Needing a stop, at most holding Miami to one first down, the OU defense allowed four first downs and the Hurricanes ran out the clock.
Quarterback Jacory Harris completed two passes.
Tailback Javarris James reeled off gains of 21 and 13 yards. The ‘Canes never gave the ball back in those final 258 seconds.
"We pride ourselves on stopping the run game, and they ran the ball down our throats,” said OU linebacker
Ryan Reynolds.
Javarris had an astounding 150 yards on 15 carries. He looked like
Roland Sales or
Jacque Robinson, old tailbacks who ruined Sooner Orange Bowls in this same county.
Meanwhile, Harris, the gangly sophomore who was so erratic early with two toss-it-up interceptions, was salty down the stretch. He completed 17 of his final 24 passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns.
Bob Stoops was left to admit that his team, his
defense, just didn’t get it done.
"No denying that,” Stoops said. "It was very evident, we just couldn’t come up with a play.”
As usual, gallows will be built in 77 counties today to string up offensive coordinator
Kevin Wilson. But just exactly what was Wilson supposed to call with Bradford, Gresham and Broyles out?
Would the Sooners have won with a healthy Bradford? Sure. Would they have won with a nearly-healthy Bradford? Probably. But what the heck does that have to do with anything? This is big-boy football. Play who you got and no excuses.
Tailbacks
DeMarco Murray and
Chris Brown produced periodic big plays, but not enough. This is a wounded offense. This is a team that had to win with defense against a good foe in enemy territory.
And the truth is, the defense wasn’t up to the task. It will not go down in history with Stoops’ 2000 or 2001 defenses. Not going to be the kind of defense that can carry sagging teammates to victory in tough times.
"They get their plays, you get yours,” Stoops said with a hint of resignation. "That’s the way it goes when you play another good football team.”
That’s what Oklahoma is. Just another good football team. Only the expectations were great.
Berry Tramel: 405-760-8080; Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1.
Leave a Comment
Sports Photo Galleriesview all
Prev
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
C'mon Berry.....Beating Idaho State and Tulsa does not make you a good team. Until we beat ANYBODY you can't honestly say that we're even a good team. Face the facts. Right now we're a mediocre .500 team. Maybe with Sam back we'll stretch up to the level of "good." But don't count on it. In fact...instead of throwing passes for the Sooners, Sam should take a pass on the rest of the season...get himself ready for the NFL draft and go prove himself in the combine and individual team workouts. Otherwise he not only runs the risk of another injury....he runs the risk of being identified with a team that incredibly underperformed. That could cost him millions of $$$
Join the official Fire Kevin Wilson and Brent Venables Facebook group!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=169954129202&ref=nf
It's Stoops that should go. He is about as warm and friendly as a prickly-pear cactus. He talks down to reporters, he talks down to his players and as a result, his players don't want to play for him. Sure, they play for each other, but that's not enough. and when it comes to recruiting . . . forget you, George. Bob is like the antithesis of a Pete Carroll or a Mack Brown. Plus Coach Carroll has a good school, the Southern Cali sun and Southern Cali women in his sales pitch. Given what OU has to offer, Coach Stoops needs to be a whole lot more effective than he is. What can we offer a kid now?
Be on a premere team? Nope.
Come enjoy the splendor/beauty of . . . ? Ummmm . . . not really.
'You will love Coach Stoops, he' great to play for.' Not even.
The difference in physical talent and depth was obvious Saturday. Coach Stoops is not the recruiter that Coach Swtizer was and every year, we lose the recruiting battle and the picture gets a little more bleak. We are just hanging on by our fingernails now . . . there is a lack of physical talent and virtually no depth. We couldn't beat Florida's second-string players.
The UT Defense will not allow ou to score more than 10 points. They are gonna get spanked. I think 42-UT 7-ou.
As a Cowboy fan I'd love to have the season ou had in the past few years.
But if you strain real hard.... you can remember the dreadful years of Blake, Col.Snelly and Gary Gibbs....when you do this, its alot easier.
With the above named coaches.... my Saturdays ALWAYS sucked.
Although nothing really can ever be counted upon.
Their losing/lackluster performance always could.
Now we have a chance to win any game we play in.
It is better by a Million miles...
Now, to the defense: Venerable evidently watched the Va.Tech/Miami game and felt that he could mimic the Tech game plan. Hello Brent, Miami coaches saw that game too! Did you think they might possibly work on some of those breakdowns the offensive line had against Tech? Have you ever had an original thought? No, that was Mike Stoops, wasn't it.
It is really sad for the kids on the team, especially Gresham and Bradford.
Coach Stoops, we love you but PLEASE, coach your coaches, and if needed, I'm sure a couple of coordinators would love to join your staff!