New Defensive Coordinator Zac Alley's Creativity With Oklahoma Sooners' Defense On Full Display Vs. Temple
The Oklahoma Sooners hired Zac Alley to serve as defensive coordinator this past offseason, replacing Ted Roof. Alley came over from Jacksonville State, where he helped coordinate one of the best defenses in college football last season. Alley's prior relationship with Brent Venables and success elsewhere earned him the trust of Venables, who turned over […]
The Oklahoma Sooners hired Zac Alley to serve as defensive coordinator this past offseason, replacing Ted Roof. Alley came over from Jacksonville State, where he helped coordinate one of the best defenses in college football last season. Alley's prior relationship with Brent Venables and success elsewhere earned him the trust of Venables, who turned over defensive playcalling to him for Week 1 (and perhaps the season).
So far, the results speak for themselves. Oklahoma's defense showed up and showed out against Temple.
Oklahoma's defense posted more sacks than points allowed, forced multiple incompletions, and posted six turnovers in one game, their most in a single game since 2003. It was Temple, but Alley's influence over the defense was plain.
Highly Aggressive
If the offensive game plan was vanilla, the defensive one was anything but. The Sooners threw everything and the kitchen sink at Temple. It worked, getting to the quarterback for six sacks and 19 pressures. That figure finished third in the SEC behind South Carolina and Arkansas (who played Old Dominion and Arkansas Pine-Bluff, respectively).
27 Sooners rushed the passer at least once. Alley's defense deployed creative rushes all over the field. According to PFF, Oklahoma ran a "simulated pressure" on 68.4% of their pass rushes. A simulated pressure is a simple four-man pressure, but the pressure comes from various directions.
Additionally, the Sooners sent a 5-man pressure on the remainder of their blitzes. They weren't afraid of getting beat deep and played accordingly. They mainly sent Cheetah S/LB Kendel Dolby, who tallied two pressures and a sack of his own, but five non-EDGE/DL rushed the passer more than once. In total, non-EDGE/DL registered 22 pass rush snaps.
Walking the Walk Instead of Talking the Talk
For years, former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch preached incessantly about creating turnovers and harped on their inability to do so. It seemingly never occurred to him that defenders just weren't often in a position to create these turnovers he assured would fix the defense.
Oklahoma created six turnovers in Alley's first game, with two interceptions and four forced fumbles. While turnover luck can be a bit fluky (indeed, one of the interceptions might as well have been a punt), their first interception is one worthy of highlighting.
The Sooners show pressure on the rep but then quickly back out of it and drop into Cover 2. CB Kani Walker (bottom of the screen) is reading the quarterback's eyes the whole time and effortlessly passes off the receiver in his zone to stick in position and close on the target. Because he understands his assignment and keeps his eyes on the quarterback, he's able to drive quickly and either assist on the tackle or, in this case, make a play on the ball. Dolby tips it up and Walker is in a position to secure the pick.
This might seem pretty basic, but basic had been missing from Oklahoma's defense for awhile. It's sheer fundamentals, but fundamentals are the foundation of everything.
Changing the Picture
Oklahoma ran at least one snap of seven different coverages, with five different ones having at least five snaps.
They're still predominantly a single-high team, running Cover 1 or Cover 3 some 54% of the time. However, they mixed in Cover 2, Quarters, and Cover 6 extensively as well, combining for 26 snaps of it.
State of the Sooners: Strengths and Weaknesses of Oklahoma’s roster heading into first SEC season
2024 is a year of change for the Oklahoma Sooners. Entering their inaugural season in the SEC, the Sooners have a new starting quarterback, offensive line, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, and special teams coordinator. Despite this upheaval, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Sooners for 2024 and beyond. Where does the […]
What's perhaps most interesting is how effectively they were able to change the picture post-snap. While not quite as high as last year's Week 1 tally of 47.1%, Oklahoma showed some sort of disguised coverage on 23.8 of plays. Perhaps less is more, as they forced multiple incompletions or confused Forrest Brock long enough to allow the pressure to get him.
All in all, this was an intriguing performance from the defense and a good foundation to keep building off of.
If there is one thing I would like to see get tightened up, it would be the missed tackles. Oklahoma had 11 missed tackles, with two against a pass and nine against the run. While some of it might have been game one rust and the wet field, that's simply an unacceptable number.
Overall, as far as debuts go, Zac Alley aced his first outing of the season and received a well-deserved game ball. Now it's time to keep building on that success against far tougher opponents.
