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Big 12: Great Offenses Or Horrible Defenses?

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By JOEY JOHNSTON

jjohnston@tampatrib.com

Published: January 3, 2009

Updated: 01/03/2009 12:12 am

FORT LAUDERDALE - The top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners will bring some amazing numbers - we're talking eye-popping, head-turning, video-game statistics - into Thursday night's BCS Championship Game against Florida.

•The hurry-up Sooners (12-1), led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford, scored 702 points. It's the largest total by a major college football team in more than a century (Minnesota scored 725 in 1904).

•The Sooners come in with an unprecedented streak of five consecutive games of 60-plus points (the week before it started, the Sooners scored 58 against Kansas State).

•And there's also this: The Sooners ran up their obscene season-long totals against Big 12 Conference defenses ranked 86th (Oklahoma State), 87th (Baylor), 93rd (Kansas), 99th (Missouri), 113th (Texas A&M) and 117th (Kansas State). OU's defense, in fact, is ranked 65th nationally - and 99th against the pass (there are 119 teams in Division I-A).

The Gators (12-1), meanwhile, played the bulk of their schedule against statistically formidable defenses such as Alabama (third), Tennessee (fourth), South Carolina (12th), Ole Miss (15th), Georgia (28th) and Vanderbilt (29th).

It's the BCS version of a classic chicken-or-egg argument.

Big 12: Superb offenses or horrible defenses?

"The Big 12 really has tremendous quarterbacks and wide receivers, good offensive schemes," South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said. "But some of those defenses aren't quite as good as the SEC - or even the ACC."

"I don't think Oklahoma's defense is really that good, but it doesn't have to be," ESPN's Lee Corso said. "With the way they score, what kind of defense do you need? I saw them play against Oklahoma State 62-41 victory. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. Oklahoma stops them once. Everybody goes, 'Yeaaaa!' Game over. That's the way they play."

Giving Tebow Grief

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow caught some grief in Big 12 country when ESPN's "GameDay" crew related an off-camera conversation - "I can't wait to play against one of those Big 12 defenses" - that he says was more in jest.

"I didn't say it like that," Tebow said last month. "I've always given the Big 12 compliments. Their quarterbacks are great."

No doubt about that.

Bradford passed for 4,464 yards and 48 touchdowns. Texas Tech's Graham Harrell, who couldn't even warrant an invitation to the Heisman ceremony, threw for 4,747 yards and 41 touchdowns. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, second in the Heisman voting, completed 77.6 percent of his passes and accounted for 42 touchdowns.

But those Big 12 defenses putting up the resistance?

They are viewed as refugees from the WAC.

"I think you have to look at the Big 12 and SEC in different ways," McCoy said. "The Big 12 has teams like Texas Tech and Missouri, who just spread it out, throw all the time and run up the score. In the SEC, they line up in the I-formation and just go at you.

"In the Big 12, we're not seeing the same looks every week. That doesn't make you soft or not as good. You're just having to face different looks. The SEC doesn't have anybody like Texas Tech or Missouri, teams that put so much pressure on a defense."

A Good SEC Game: 3-2?

Or as Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin put it, "You might blow a team out in our league, but the opposing quarterback is going to have 350 yards passing. In the SEC, a good game might be 3-2. With 300 yards of total offense. You're not going to see that in the Big 12. No way."

Harrell said he's not surprised that Big 12 defenses have a sagging national reputation. If you look strictly at numbers, it's easy to make that judgment. He pointed out a month-long run of games by Texas Tech - against Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

"Trying to prepare for four offenses like that in consecutive weeks, it's near-impossible," Harrell said. "Our coaches take risks. We don't play the field-position game. At times, that's going to cost you.

"Oklahoma's defense is better than it gets credit for. But they play in a league where people like to air it out, instead of playing conservative and working for field position. It's just different ways of playing football."

Texas Tech earned new respect for Oklahoma's defense after absorbing a 65-21 beatdown Nov. 22. Harrell passed for 361 yards, but he was sacked four times and the Sooners forced three turnovers.

"Everything they did, we hadn't seen on film," Red Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree said. "They had two weeks to prepare and they had a great scheme. That's why I'm thinking they're really going to be ready for Florida.

"It's inaccurate to say that Oklahoma has a poor defense. Our league is so exciting and wide open, yet it gets a bad rap. Maybe at times we put so much into the offense, we don't worry as much about the defense. But I'll take our teams any day of the week."

As for the chicken-or-egg argument, Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant said it should be flipped.

"How is Florida's defense going to stop Oklahoma's offense? Did you think about that?" Bryant said. "I feel like nobody can stop a Big 12 offense. You've got to be near perfect. They're saying Florida has a great defense, but it's going to be under pressure like it's never seen before."

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353.

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