Tsn's Bowl Preview

Sporting News, The, Dec 25, 2000 by Tom Dienhart

"We're forcing the quarterback to guess right," OU co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables says.

The Sooners' defense is a 21st century grandchild of the pressing scheme head coach Bob Stoops concocted while co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State from 1991 to '95. He did some tinkering with it during his three-year stint at Florida--during which he faced the Seminoles four times--and has brought it up to date in Norman. In a bow to the spread-'em offensive sets that are so popular, the system no longer forces corners to play up to 80 percent of the game in some form of man-to-man coverage. That would be crazy, given the number of wide receivers offenses can deploy at any time.

"Since a lot of people am spreading you out, we have to spread out with them," says Mike Stoops, Bob's brother and co-coordinator with Venables. "All the same principles are there, but we have to take some of the pressure off the cornerbacks. If you do too much of that, though, you're susceptible to the running game. So, we move around a little."

The most impressive movers of the bunch are linebackers Torrance Marshall and Rocky Calmus. They work behind a steady front wall that lacks the Seminoles' big-play capabilities but does a good job of occupying offensive lines.

"We funnel everything to our linebackers and (free safety J.T.) Thatcher," Venables says. "We don't want to ask the defensive line to do things they can't do."

The Sooners can, however, request almost anything of Calmus, Marshall and Thatcher. Calmus (122 tackles, 17 for losses, three fumble recoveries) is an instinctive player who gets to the football quickly and has "a tremendous feel for the game," says Venables. Marshall (96 tackles, 14 for losses, five sacks) blends terrific size (6-2, 247) and great speed to give the Sooners a sideline-to-sideline, big-play machine.

"When he sees the ball, he can go get it," says Redskins scout Dan Shonka.

Thatcher, meanwhile, has completed the transformation from a running quarterback to a multipurpose weapon who picked off eight passes and averaged 15.8 yards on punt returns. He has been the constant in a young defensive backfield whose development has been critical to the Sooners' undefeated season.

"They've grown physically and mentally every week and have matured greatly," Venables says of the secondary. "Every week they have done something better--whether it's tackling, covering or disguising things."

The Seminoles also have improved steadily this season, after hitting bottom in their October loss to Miami. A lack of depth prohibited FSU from substituting as liberally as it had in the past--a problem in the stifling south Florida heat As a result, the 'Noles surrendered 448 yards and couldn't hold a late 24-20 lead.

"We were on our heels a little bit," FSU end Jamal Reynolds says. "We were in their back yard, and they weren't backing down."

Since that point, FSU has been rock solid, thanks largely to the development of a pair of redshirt freshman tackles.

Darnell Dockett wanted to be the next in the Seminoles' long line, of All-American ends. But once coordinator Mickey Andrews convinced Dockett to try the tackle spot, the FSU defense returned to dominating status, with Dockett teaming with classmate Jeff Womble to increase FSU's interior production. "The two tackles who came along really helped us," Polley says. "We knew what we were going to have with Jamal and David (Warren) at the ends, but now teams have to pick their poison."