Published: October 04, 2008 11:57 pm            

Sooner secondary locks things down

WACO, Texas — So much for Oklahoma’s secondary concerns. The Sooners’ non-conference schedule didn’t expose any problems and Saturday’s performance against Baylor was the secondary’s best outing yet.

Think about the challenge cornerbacks Brian Jackson and Dominique Franks, and safeties Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes faced. Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin is a threat to keep any play going about as long as he wants. He has the speed and quickness to run defensive linemen loopy and the Sooners were not immune.

But he never hurt OU with his arm. Griffin only threw for 75 yards and completed only 11-for-26 because Baylor receivers couldn’t get open.

“We just wanted to be physical with them,” Jackson said after making three tackles, including one for a 6-yard loss on a screen play. “We want to be physical with everyone we play.”

The Sooners were Saturday. Baylor’s receivers couldn’t find open space on anything beyond the short screens that are such a big part of the Bears’ offense. They produced the majority of Baylor’s passing yards, yet the Bears’ longest pass play only went for 19 yards.

Opponents have completed just a little more than 40 percent of their passes against OU this season. Only a handful of defenses have held teams to a lower percentage. A lot of that credit has to go to those four starters in the secondary.

“Our coverage was outstanding,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “(Jackson) and Dominique were really great.”

Franks and Jackson were thought to be possible weaknesses in the preseason. Harris and Holmes were established starters, but neither is asked to lock up with game-breaking receivers on an every-down basis.

That’s for the corners, and for the fifth straight game there were no breakdowns. If the Sooners keep this up it might go down as one of the best secondaries of the Stoops era.

Stoops said earlier this week and again Saturday after the game that it has the potential to be just that. A few more performances like Saturday’s and it will be.

“People can make those decisions at the end of the year,” Harris said. “We’ll keep focusing on doing what we need to do to get ready to play. We’ve just played one game in the Big 12. There’s a lot left to do.”

        

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