Tuesday, October 21, 2008
When a defense surrenders 674 yards, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Kansas’ secondary was scrutinized after Saturday’s 45-31 defeat for allowing a record 468 passing yards from Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford. However, the defensive line deserves as much blame for not disrupting Bradford’s rhythm.
The line failed to record a sack for the first time all season.
“It’s always going to be frustrating when you can’t get a guy down and he keeps moving around like that,” junior safety Darrell Stuckey said.
In addition to no sacks, it allowed a season-high 206 rushing yards.
Basically, Kansas’ front four was pushed around all game by Oklahoma’s offensive line, which outweighs its counterparts by more than 40 pounds per man.
“They were the first ones in the locker room to get a game ball,” Sooner coach Bob Stoops said of his behemoths. “To be able to be balanced and protect the quarterback and the run, they were really solid.”
The Sooner offense moved efficiently up and down the field on Saturday. Oklahoma converted on 7-of-16 third down attempts and 7-of-8 trips to the red zone.
The Jayhawk defense allowed four scoring drives of at least eight plays and its inability to get off the field put the offense at a distinct disadvantage.
Kansas’ offense averaged one-tenth fewer yards per play than Oklahoma, but it ran 25 fewer plays. If Kansas’ defense made a few more stops, its potent offense would have had a few more cracks to even the score.
“Tackling, from what I could see on the sideline, was not crisp,” coach Mark Mangino said. “There’s a lot of things that weren’t the way that we’d like for them to be.”
Stuckey and senior cornerback Kendrick Harper set career highs with 12 and 13 tackles, respectively. In fact, Kansas’ top nine tacklers on Saturday played at linebacker or defensive back.
That means that even when Oklahoma ran the ball, the running backs were sprinting past the line and into the second level most of the time.
“Everything just fell right in place where it should be,” Sooner running back Chris Brown said. “It was very balanced all across the board: running, passing the ball. Guys were making blocks all the way down the field.”
A major problem on the defensive line was the same thing that plagued the secondary: lack of depth.
Mangino had a seven-man rotation on the defensive front, which wore them all down by the fourth quarter.
“We have a lot of guys that are on the field and hardly ever come off on defense,” Mangino said. “A lot of the defensive linemen are playing a lot of reps because we’re a little short-handed.”
Junior defensive tackle Caleb Blakesley didn’t play because of an injury, and it’s unclear if he’ll be available for the homecoming game against Texas Tech.
Kansas can’t make a trade or sign any free agents to beef up its struggling and depleted defense, so there’s only one thing Mangino can do.
“You just try to get them better,” he said.
— — Edited by Lauren Keith
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