Oklahoma Football: 3 overreactions from win over Houston in Week 1

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NORMAN, OK – SEPTEMBER 1: Quarterback D’Eriq King #4 of the Houston Cougars throws against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 1, 2019 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners defeated the Cougars 49-31. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /

1. Defense still needs a little help, but give them credit

This Oklahoma defense has gotten better for sure — that’s not a question. A year ago, the Sooners were one of the worst only bailed out by one of the best offenses in the nation. The entire Big 12 doesn’t really play strong defense, so it wasn’t that shocking for Oklahoma to struggle despite fielding a strong offense, but the defense was at times the bottom of the bottom.

This season? It’s looking like that may be changing and in a hurry. New defensive coordinator Alex Grinch had no problems giving his unit the game ball after defeating Houston.

https://twitter.com/OU_Football/status/1168615829727956992?s=20

Many people thought that Houston’s quarterback D’Eriq King would run all over the Oklahoma defense. No one really gave the Cougars the chance to win, but they thought they’d do better on the offense than they did — especially the announcers that compared King to Johnny Manziel.

Overall, the Oklahoma defense held Houston to 31 points, 14 of those coming in the fourth quarter in what some would call garbage time when your offense is doing as well as Oklahoma’s was.

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Simply put, this team has quite a bit of growing to do still on the defensive side of the ball, but man have they gotten better in a hurry. Look for this unit to really make a difference in the Big 12 this year.

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