This OU football defense is bringing up memories of 1999-2000 for Brent Venables

DALLAS — OU’s defense gave Brent Venables some flashbacks Saturday.

Venables isn’t one to dole out comparisons lightly, but the one he threw out after the Sooners’ thrilling 34-30 win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl was one that has to be exciting for OU fans.

“It reminds me a little bit of that 1999-2000 (defense),” Venables said. “No offense to those guys back in the day. No offense to these guys. But we had a bunch of misfits back in 2000. We didn’t know how good we could be. That was a group, they were tough as all get out, they were raggedy, young and they just came every day and went to work. These guys have been exactly that.”

It was clear going into the Red River Rivalry that the Sooners’ defense had improved from last year.

Against Texas, the Sooners showed just how far it had come, even if the Longhorns scored 30 points and put up 527 yards of total offense.

Texas was just 5 of 14 on third down and 1 of 3 in the red zone.

The Longhorns had to settle for field-goal tries on three drives and turned the ball over on downs after sitting at first-and-goal from the 1.

They also had a season-high five sacks, four from the defensive line.

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That’s the biggest area where the Sooners made strides against the Longhorns.

OU’s defense had struggled to get consistent pressure on the quarterback through the first five games, with just nine sacks.

Ethan Downs had two of the sacks against the Longhorns and said at least some of the criticism of the defensive line coming in was unwarranted.

“Sometimes criticism can be misinformed or misinterpreted," he said. "We try not to latch onto the negative. We keep doing our job, then the plays are going to run into us. Be gap-sound. A lot of those offense were getting the ball out fast — not a lot of TFLs (tackles for loss), not a lot of sacks. Being gap-sound, being a sound defense is what wins. Even if we don’t look flashy, we’re confident and keep playing.”

Still, Sooners defensive coordinator Ted Roof said the performance Saturday was different.

“To get to the quarterback like that, yeah, I do think it was a significant step,” Roof said.

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said after the game that Jacob Lacey’s first-down sack on the Longhorns’ next-to-last drive played a huge difference in how the rest of that drive panned out.

It affected Texas’ play-calling and wound up playing a significant role in the Longhorns deciding to kick a go-ahead field goal that gave the Sooners 1:17 to work with.

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“It was huge,” Roof said. “To get people behind the chains on first down and not let them live in second-and-4, second-and-3 — we don’t want to play defense in second-and-4, second-and-3, so to put them behind the sticks is huge.”

Back in 2000, it wasn’t until the win over Texas that the Sooners really burst onto the scene as legitimate contenders in either the Big 12 and national races.

While the Sooners were thought of as legitimate Big 12 contenders heading into Saturday, the win over the Longhorns lifts them into the College Football Playoff discussion.

That 2000 national-title team followed its 63-14 win over Texas with wins over No. 2 Kansas State and top-ranked Nebraska to take the No. 1 spot themselves en route to the program’s seventh national title.

There are no such high road blocks in front of this year’s Sooners. OU doesn’t have another game against a ranked opponent scheduled, and its remaining schedule has a combined 22-11 record, 7-8 in the Big 12, so far.

But regardless of schedule, Venables still doesn’t hesitate to compare this defense from his second season as OU’s head coach to the one from his second season as the Sooners’ co-defensive coordinator.

“We’re a little shinier in some spots than that group, but also I think the parallels are that we didn’t know how good we can be,” Venables said. “What that team was committed to us just improving each and every day.”

Ryan Aber covers OU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ryan? He can be reached at raber@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at@RyAber. Sign up forthe OU Sooners newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasinga digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football improved defense evident vs. Texas in Red River Rivalry