Oklahoma’s defense might be the most maligned position group of any top-25 team. But when it counted, a marriage of a schematic gamble, tremendous execution by OU’s defense, and Texas doing its best efforts to play right into OU’s hands helped the Sooners end the Big 12 Championship with a revenge win.
Oklahoma used clutch *defense* and *ball control* to ice the Big 12 Championship
Yeah, you read that right.
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
I mean, just look at this beauty of a blitz.
That’s a corner blitz by OU’s Tre Brown, who is just shot out of a cannon. With Texas lined up on the short side of the field in somewhat of a passing situation, springing this on the Horns was a good idea by DC Ruffin McNeill. Brown doesn’t have that far to run, to get home to Ehlinger within the standard three-second operation time for a passing play. It’s as decisive of a safety as you’ll ever see.
But if you’re asking why the hell Sam Ehlinger didn’t see a blitz coming from his frontside, the answer may have been Texas’ play call.
Ehlinger is basically ignoring the single-receiver side of this formation, likely by design. He fakes the give to keep some OU defenders honest, but he’s clearly only reading the two-receiver side of the field. Despite what we might think about QBs not making reads, sometimes a play calls for the quarterback to only read one part of the field. It’s usually based on a pre-snap decision.
While it may have helped Ehlinger read OU’s coverage on this play, it also made him basically a sitting duck when a blitz wasn’t picked up.
The Sooners used clutch defensive plays to put this thing on ice.
OU was up three points before the safety. They got the two points there to increase the lead to five.
Then they got the ball back on the safety punt with just over eight minutes left. They then drove the ball 65 yards for a touchdown, chewing six minutes off the clock — not exactly something OU’s No. 1 offense is known for — and leaving Texas without much time to work with to pull a miracle. The Sooners’ defense then pulled down an interception to close the game down.
The air raid team with a porous defense pulled smashmouth moves to win the Big 12 championship game, just like we all expected.
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