Oklahoma is coming off a 62-52 shootout win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, and the Sooners are averaging a blazing 45 points per game this season. From a distance, their stats would suggest that teams don’t play defense in the Big 12.
Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley says that’s not the case, and he even jabbed the SEC in the process.
Lincoln Riley on opinion Big 12 doesn’t play defense: “It’s uneducated. … We didn’t have any problem moving the ball against SEC defenses."
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) November 6, 2017
Though Oklahoma hasn’t played an SEC team this season, they did put up 31 on Big Ten power Ohio State in an early-season win. They also scored 35 in a Sugar Bowl win over Auburn last season, which could be the game to which Riley was alluding. TCU is another good conference representative, as they beat SEC squad Arkansas 28-7 this season.
The SEC certainly is top-heavy this season, with Alabama and Georgia at the top of the polls, and Auburn and Mississippi State as the conference’s other ranked teams. The Big 12 seems to be very solid, with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Iowa State and West Virginia all being ranked. It’s definitely a strong season for the Big 12, and just because 114 points were scored in the Bedlam game doesn’t mean their teams don’t have defense. Keep in mind that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are second and third in the country in points per game. No defenses have been able to stop them.
