OU football defense shows cracks in loss at Ole Miss, but can Sooners avoid crumbling? (2024)

Colton SulleyThe Oklahoman

OXFORD, Miss. — Billy Bowman and Danny Stutsman didn't shrink.

Following OU football's third consecutive loss Saturday — a 26-14 defeat at No. 18 Ole Miss — the Sooners' defensive leaders held their heads high inside the visiting tunnel of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Disappointment was evident fresh off the loss but both guys have been here before, in 2022, when OU finished 6-7 and 99th nationally in team defense.

"A lot of these guys come from winning programs before since high school and aren't used to taking tough losses," Stutsman said. "It hurts. They have to learn how to handle that, how to grow."

OU trailed Mississippi by two points with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter.

Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart pump faked, surveyed the field and found wide receiver Jordan Watkins, who had beaten OU cornerback Kani Walker one-on-one and was nearly 5 yards out of his reach, for a 34-yard completion. Up until that point, it was a game, but undisciplined mistakes in the secondary and an inability to rush the passer led to a 13-point Mississippi third-quarter outburst.

"Real frustrating game, had great opportunity going into halftime," OU coach Brent Venables said. "We just really played poorly in the third quarter. They did some really good things at the end of the day, but I thought we beat ourselves with some explosive plays on defense."

More: OU football drops to .500 as Ole Miss dominates Sooners in second half | 5 takeaways

A little over four minutes later, Dart hit the Sooners' defense with another play-action, 34-yard gain. This time to Antwane Wells Jr., who beat cornerback Dez Malone one-on-one.

Ole Miss executed whatever it wanted through the air Saturday in front of a record crowd of 67,926.

All nine of Mississippi's gains of 15-plus yards that the Sooners allowed came in the passing game. Dart completed 22 of his 30 pass attempts for 311 yards and a touchdown.

When OU had defenders in the backfield it seemed its cornerbacks were getting beat and vice versa. Mississippi's receivers beat the Sooners' secondary with double moves several times, something Venables said his team worked on all week.

Venables said it boils down to the little things and playing disciplined against good teams.

"Putting your eyes where they belong is what it’s all about on defense," Venables said. "That is just as basic and fundamental as it comes. (Dart) wasn’t really scrambling but stepping up in the pocket, the two defenders were tackling him, dropped it over our head and drove down the field and scored. We should have been off the field, but we weren’t. That’s how you lose."

OU's cornerbacks and safeties were inconsistent throughout.

For the most part, the Sooners stopped the run effectively. OU held Mississippi to 69 rushing yards, well below its season average of 200.6 entering the game.

“There were a lot of chunk plays through the air," Bowman said. "As the back seven, we’ve gotta play better. We’ve gotta communicate better. We’ve gotta understand what our job is. But ultimately, we’ve gotta get lined up first and play ball.”

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Stutsman and defensive coordinator Zac Alley emphasized the need to play better in the third quarter.

"You have to do your job the entire time," Alley said. "It takes technique. It takes discipline. You have to make sure every single play is the most important play of the game because that's the one that could give the big play that changes everything."

While the Sooners' defensive line was in the backfield and nearly got to Dart numerous times, they finished with just one sack compared to Mississippi's nine. Defensive end R Mason Thomas was inches away from recording multiple sacks.

"We've got to get off the ball," Alley said. "Obviously, work our technique and do what we need to do. We're really close on a lot of them. We're hitting the quarterback and the ball is coming out a lot. A little bit of that is on the back end, too. You've got to be in coverage lanes so they can't throw the ball on time. So it all works together, on mixed outs, in particular, to be able to create chaos in the backfield."

For the third consecutive week, Venables and Co. were frustrated after 60 minutes of football.

Venables praised his players' belief in the process even during a week when the Sooners fired their offensive coordinator.

"This is a group of guys, again, from a leadership standpoint, they’re going to fight and chase of having an expectation of that standard every single day," Venables said.

"Even when you’re 4-4. These guys aren’t going to flinch, I promise you. I think everybody would expect everybody to be divisive and in the tanks and mentally checking out and all those things. That’s not these guys, not these coaches. You have a group of guys that have some toughness to them, that care, highly invested."

More: OU football vs Ole Miss recap: Sooners drop third straight as Rebels rally in second half

Bowman and Stutsman haven't forgotten what that 2022 season felt like. It included losses to Baylor at home and Texas Tech and West Virginia on the road.

Both chose to return to continue building Venables' culture. While neither anticipated losing four games, both vowed postgame Saturday to continue pouring into the younger players.

Stutsman said he doesn't regret returning. Most lessons come from losses like the one the Sooners suffered Saturday.

Ask OU's unquestioned leaders on defense, they'll learn from it.

"The leaders on this team, me and Danny and Ethan included just on the defensive side of the ball," Bowman said. "I feel like we’re doing a good job right now of staying together as a team and just understanding we’ve gotta put it together day by day.

"It’s not going to come overnight. We’ve gotta keep working.”

OU football defense shows cracks in loss at Ole Miss, but can Sooners avoid crumbling? (2024)
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