✌🏽 Happy Thursday, friends. Let’s ride.

🤔 Trivia: When was the last time Oklahoma held Texas Tech below 10 points in a single game? [Answer in footnotes]1

🏈 ‘Running out of time’

So, this isn’t breaking news to anyone who’s closely followed Oklahoma this season, but the Sooners’ defense is a unit really struggling to get off the field.

It’s odd, considering the talent OU returned in 2021. Nik Bonitto figures to be an NFL Draft pick next spring, perhaps even cracking the first round. Perrion Winfrey seemed on that path, but hasn’t lived up to preseason expectations. You figured the secondary would take a step forward, but a staggering number of injuries have mostly prevented that. The linebackers have been pretty hit or miss, despite a wealth of experience at the position.

Regardless of our own perceptions, OU’s defense has decidedly declined since a promising start to the year when it wasn’t scoring a ton of points, but who could be unhappy with the Sooners posting a shutout of an FCS school and allowing 16 points from Nebraska and 13 from West Virginia?2

Since the beginning of October, things have drastically changed, and the common denominator is OU’s inability to finish defensive drives.