UTEP Miners HC Scotty Walden just helped the Oklahoma Sooners send a very powerful message to the rest of the SEC
The Oklahoma Sooners have a great defense, but even they didn’t play as well as they could have.
The Oklahoma Sooners won 51-0 on Friday night. It was a win that fans likely loved to see. But, head coach Brent Venables didn’t feel too great after the game. Sure, winning by 51 is great, and he smiled a bit after the game. But he also mentioned that the team was extremely sloppy.
On defense, that’s definitely true. The offense played well and took what the defense gave them. The run game showed improvement from last season, and the passing game looked smooth. But the defense, yeah they didn’t playt as great as the final score may suggest. However, UTEP’s head coach think this unit will still be one of the best in the country by the end of the year.
UTEP head coach Scotty Walden talks Sooners defense after losing 51-0
“If they’re not top-five in America, I’ll be shocked,” UTEP Miners head coach Scotty Walden said after the game.
The Sooners should have a top defense, yes. They are returning a lot of players from last years top defense. And, they still have Venables, one of the best defensive minds this game has ever seen. However, they really didn’t look that way Friday night. Sure, they held UTEP to zero point. But, you could argue the score should have been 51-12 at the very least.
UTEP missed three field goals, all within reasonable range–nothing crazy. Then when they got in field goal range again, they fumbled the ball on the very next snap. Another play that saw them actually drive the ball down the field, they got strip sacked, so that is good by OU. However, this UTEP team was having some explosive plays against the Sooners. Most of it was by way of the ground.
OU allowed 112 rushing yards to a very bad UTEP team. And when UTEP’s backup QB came in, their offense looked way better. So, there’s definitely good reason why Venables was upset and called the team sloppy. But, the potential is there, and you can see why Walden said what he said.
