FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt believes the Oklahoma Sooners are one of the nine best teams in the country. He also believes that the team’s offensive limitations make them a novelty act like the defense-first-second-and-third Iowa Hawkeyes.
Klatt made sure to make it clear that it was a compliment for OU. It’s hard not to see it as a shot at Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, though, since it’s his side of the operation that keeps Klatt from deeming Oklahoma a College Football Playoff champion-worthy program heading into Week 14.
“At No. 9 is Oklahoma. I moved them down one. Here's what OU is: an unbelievably good defense. They really are. Love watching them on defense. And … they're a really bad offense. So you know what Oklahoma is? They're a souped-up version of Iowa. That's all they are,” Klatt said.
“And you know, in some circles, people will be like, ‘Oh, well that's an insult.’ I don't view it as that, because I've respected Iowa for a long time, because they do the right things to win games. And that's what Oklahoma is. So, this is a compliment, but it's also a ceiling. We've known for a long time, even those of us who have been Iowa backers, that there's a ceiling on the level that Iowa can get to playing that way. And in particular, playing with an offense that can't generate points.
“OU is in that boat: they've got eight offensive touchdowns over the last four games, and they are hugely reliant, I mean massively reliant, on big plays and field position to do it. There is a ceiling on that, because someone will prevent that, and at some point, someone will score 20, 24, 27 on your defense. It just happens, even to the great defenses of yesteryear. Oklahoma is earning their way into this playoff in a massive way. I love watching their defense, but their offense gives me pause.”
Following a 23-21 upset win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa in Week 12, the Sooners’ season has life heading into its final week. With a listless LSU Tigers team coming to Norman with little to play for as their coaching search continues, with a possible Lane Kiffin resolution coming Saturday, Oklahoma hardly has the hardest test on Saturday afternoon.
Of course, quarterback John Mateer and the bottom-half-of-the-SEC Sooners offense needs to finish strong against a talented LSU defense that’s been improved since Brian Kelly’s firing.
This is far from a gimme for Oklahoma. The Tigers will be looking for blood with a chance for Frank Wilson to earn a raise at his next job, wherever and whatever that is.