SAN ANTONIO — After Thursday’s 38-24 loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl, OU coach Brent Venables’ mind kept flashing back to one play.

It wasn’t Jalil Farooq’s fumble which led to a Wildcats’ defensive touchdown or any of the other five turnovers the Sooners committed.

It wasn’t to Jacob Cowing’s 57-yard touchdown reception with 5:28 remaining to break a tie either.

Instead it was to a moment a few plays before Cowing’s touchdown.

“If we played a little better on defense when the game is tied up,” Venables said. “The second-and-17, we can’t give up a conversion there and expect to win in a game that’s — through all the adversity that’s happened and the game is tied and it’s second-and-17, I’ve got to put them in a better position. I think two plays later they scored a touchdown to go up.”

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Venables has high standards for his defense, no surprise given his background as a defensive coordinator with the Sooners and at Clemson.

Venables expects his defense to be better than it was Thursday, and better than it was as a whole in 2023, but the Venables/Ted Roof defense definitely made improvements from the disappointing 2022 season.

How much better was OU’s defense?

The Sooners improved in virtually every major defensive category this season:

• Total offense allowed went from 461.0 yards in 2022 to 389.4 yards per game in 2023.

• Yards allowed per play went from 5.7 to 5.4.

• Rushing yards allowed went from 187.5 to 138.6.

• Yards per carry went from 4.5 to 3.9.

• Passing yards allowed went from 273.5 to 250.8.

• Completion percentage went from 61.9 to 56.8.

• Turnovers forced went from 1.6 to 2.0.

The improvement was undeniable.

About the only area where the Sooners took a step back was in pressure, where they went from 28 sacks last season to 24 in 2023, and 104 tackles for loss a year ago to 98 this season.

And the schedule wasn’t quite as difficult this season but it wound up being not as dramatic of decrease in difficulty as it initially seemed — as the Sooners’ had the No. 51 strength of schedule this season after being No. 32 last season according to ESPN.

Advanced analytics also showed improvement for the group.

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The Sooners have the No. 11 defensive efficiency this season, at 76.7. That’s a significant improvement over last year, when OU was No. 55 at 54.9.

The Pro Football Focus numbers also showed a significant, if not quite as dramatic, improvement.

The Sooners were the No. 80 overall defense in 2022 according to PFF, grading out at 75.2. This season, OU ranks No. 42 at 84.1. The Sooners also showed improvement in rush defense (79.9 to 84.6), tackling (67.9 to 70.2), and coverage (70.2 to 79.3). Even the Sooners’ pass rush — one of the areas where the raw statistics weren’t as good this season — improved, from 66.9 to 73.5.

Now OU will be looking for another step forward next season, even as the schedule gets even more difficult with the leap to the SEC.

The Sooners return much of their defense, including linebacker Danny Stutsman and safety Billy Bowman.

“My experience has been, you know, the older you are, the more you’ve played, the better you play, and guys that are playing that fourth or that fifth or that sixth year, they just play more consistently,” Venables said. “Their focus is a little different. They don’t get as distracted. These are guys that are coming back and they’re focused on a mission, you know, the mission of this program and certainly on the team and then themselves.”

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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.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football defense improved in 2023 based on stats from 2022 Sooners