There are certain matchups in football where the opposing team will be licking its chops to exploit a clear weakness. For the elite-level Oklahoma defense, it has its eyes set on the lackluster Tigers’ offense.
It’s the regular-season finale for LSU football as the Tigers will end the season in Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the No. 8-ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
After winning back-to-back games against Arkansas and Western Kentucky, LSU is looking to make it three in a row, despite the rollercoaster ride the Tigers have endured this season.
However, as seen throughout much of the season, including these two recent victories, the LSU offense has been like nails on a chalkboard with how inconsistent it has been at times.
Between injuries, new play-callers and self-inflicted wounds, it’s been hard to watch, and there’s no worse of a possible matchup for the Tigers than facing the Oklahoma defense.
To see how dominant the Oklahoma defense has been this year, consider these numbers.
The Sooners rank No. 11 in yards per game (280.5), No. 6 in points per game (14), No.10 in third down conversion percentage (.302) and No.1 in sacks (41.0) and sacks per game (3.73)
The stout and aggressive defense for the Sooners has also gone through top-ranked teams this season, and rarely have they faltered or failed to give their team a chance to win games.
In the seven games where they faced ranked opponents, the Sooners have allowed an average of roughly 18 points per game.
“I think it’s probably the best defense we’ve seen all year,” interim head coach Frank Wilson said during Monday’s press conference.
A team that was once known for not being able to stop anyone during its time in the Big 12 conference has now reformed its identity with fourth-year head coach Brett Veneables.
Before he took over as the head coach for Oklahoma, Veneables was the defensive coordinator at Clemson for 10 seasons, where he helped lead historically great defensive units such as the 2017 and 2018 Tigers.
Slowly but surely, Veneables used his defensive DNA to transform the Sooners into a defensive powerhouse this season.
Oklahoma also possesses impact players at every level of its defense.
Defensive linemen R Mason Thomas and Taylor Wein have combined for 12.5 sacks on the year. Kip Lewis, Kendal Daniels and Owen Heinecke are a trio of heat-seeking linebackers who blow up plays all over the field.
The young but talented secondary has proved that it’s up for the challenge in the SEC, with players such as Robert Spears Jennings, Eli and Peyton Bowen and true freshman corner Courtland Guillory all making an impact.
“I don’t know if they have a weakness on their defense for sure on all three levels,” Wilson said. “Their defensive line, their linebacker core, their secondary is pretty exceptional in the things that they have done in this season with the most recent victories over Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee.”
With players like these to go along with a defensive-minded coach, it’s a lopsided affair for the LSU offense coming off a dreadful showing against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
The passing game was hard to watch as quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. went 25-for-42 (59.5%) for 202 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
The running game also proved to be a weakness once again, rushing for 126 yards on 37 carries as a team and averaging only 3.4 yards per carry.
The only touchdown for the Tigers came late in the second half as Van Buren found tight end Trey’Dez Green for an 11-yard touchdown reception.
LSU has scored 25 points only once against a Power Four team this season, and that was against Texas A&M, where they scored a late touchdown with only 59 seconds remaining.
Anyone can see that the offense for the Tigers has been struggling, but Wilson and the rest of the coaching staff are continuing to find ways to get the offense going.
“We have to just keep chopping wood,” Wilson said in the WKU postgame press conference. “There is no giving up. We’re going to continue to try to find a way to get the ball in the end zone and by different measures.”
With one last regular season game, LSU wants to finish strong and give Oklahoma everything it has, and by doing so, the Tigers know they’ll have to generate big plays to pull off the upset.
“We tried a gamut of things, and we’ll continue to hammer at it to look at what defenses are doing to us as we look at our tendencies to try to crack the vault to create more touchdown plays for us,” Wilson said.
