The Oklahoma Sooners have navigated through a very difficult 2025 schedule with unexpected success, primarily on the shoulders of an excellent defense that has shut down opponents.
OU has taken on the identity of fourth-year head coach Brent Venables, especially in the month of November, and especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Sooners are intense, aggressive, and detail-oriented when their opponent has the ball, and it’s paid off time and time again during the stretch run of the season. Venables calls the defensive plays and serves as the de-facto defensive coordinator this year in Norman, and he’s once again proven why he’s one of the best defensive minds in all of college football.
When Venables arrived at OU back in December of 2021, he promised “a physical, punishing, relentless, suffocating defense” on his teams. Four years later, and the 2025 Sooners have checked those boxes on their way to a very likely berth in the College Football Playoff.
OU’s defensive excellence has shown up in some of the advanced stats as well, as they rank 7th in the country in defensive stop rate, according to ESPN’s Max Olson.
“What is stop rate? It’s a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. Defensive coordinators have the same goal regardless of their scheme, opponent or conference: prevent points and get off the field. Stop rate is a simple metric but can offer a good reflection of a defense’s effectiveness on a per-drive basis in today’s faster-tempo game … It’s merely a different method for evaluating success on defense against FBS opponents.” – Max Olson, ESPN.
At No. 7 on the list and having played against 11 FBS opponents this year, the Sooners have a stop rate of 75.4%, lower than only Texas Tech, San Diego State, Toledo, Ohio State, Indiana, and Miami. That means that three-quarters of the time, Oklahoma’s defense forces a punt, a turnover, or a turnover on downs. They prevent points and they get off the field. OU also allows just 1.19 points per drive.
Considering that the Red Raiders play in the Big 12, the Aztecs play in the Mountain West, the Rockets play in the MAC, the Hurricanes play in the ACC, and the Buckeyes and Hoosiers have hardly played the difficult schedule in the Big Ten that the Sooners have in the SEC, it’s even more impressive that Oklahoma’s D ranks where it does. With games against Michigan, Auburn, Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU, this Sooner team has seen a gauntlet over the last three months.
The stat is also impressive considering how poor the Sooners were at forcing turnovers, especially in critical moments, until the seal was broken in the “November to Remember”. Oklahoma went four games before forcing any turnovers, and they didn’t force any in big moments in a game until November. That means that OU was mostly forcing teams to punt; stopping them on third downs without taking the ball away.
Venables’ presence means that Oklahoma’s defense will be in good hands in both the present and the future. However, if the Sooners want to make some noise in the CFP this year, and continue to be in the running for the playoff in the years to come, they’ll need to own up to Venables’ promise of “a fast, exciting, explosive and diverse offense” on his teams to complement that defense. Start checking off those boxes, and OU might have something really special brewing in Norman, Oklahoma.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU among the best in the country in stop rate metrics
