Oklahoma’s Tackling Must Improve if Sooners’ Defense is to Maintain Lofty Standards

Even after Oklahoma’s Red River Rivalry loss to Texas on Saturday, the Sooners’ defense still stands tall.

OU remains first nationally in total defense, second in first-downs allowed, passing yards allowed and scoring defense and in the top 10 in passing efficiency defense and rushing defense.

But there is one category where the Sooners’ defense hasn’t been excellent this season — tackling.

After the 23-6 loss, the Sooners stand 63rd nationally and 11th in the Southeastern Conference in tackling, grading out 68.0 in the category according to Pro Football Focus.

OU missed 10 tackles vs. Texas, according to PFF. Linebacker Kobie McKinzie, defensive end R Mason Thomas, and safety Robert Spears-Jennings had two each.

“I’ve got to tackle way better,” Spears-Jennings said after the loss. “It’s third downs, I’m missing tackles that I need to make and I’m putting our defense in a tougher position because they’re converting on third downs and that’s not our standard.”

The problem was particularly evident in the second half, when Texas ripped off a pair of long drives — one for a touchdown and another for a field goal. In the first half, the Longhorns had a 12-play, 75-yard drive for a field goal.

The three drives ate up more than 18 minutes of clock, with the two second-half drives taking 13:26 of the third quarter.

Texas was a combined 9-of-11 on third-down conversions during those three scoring drives.

“It’s hard to play defense like that when you don’t help yourself get off the field,” McKinzie said. “Simply doing the little things like tackling the dude with the ball. That’s going to be really important when we get to practice this week. It’s going to be a good challenge, looking forward to it.”

“I thought we lost some discipline there,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said of his team’s second-half defense. “Lined up offsides and turned guys loose and didn’t tackle well in all three of those drives. They made their plays.”

While the tackling wasn’t good Saturday, it also wasn’t too far outside of the norm for this team this season.

The 54.4 PFF grade in tackling was just OU’s second-worst of the season. The Sooners graded out at 47.1 in the category in the Sept. 20 win over Auburn.

“We didn’t have our best game of tackling, so to not have them wrapped up and letting them run free says a lot,” Thomas said. “We need to work on that aspect of the game.”

Oklahoma has graded out at 70 or better just once this season — 81.5 in the win over Kent State.