Just a week ago, the Oklahoma Sooners were embarrassed at home for their homecoming matchup. South Carolina bested the Sooners' defense routinely and won a wire-to-wire 42-25 game that ended the Sooners' chances of making a run to the College Football Playoff. OU game up 521 yards of total offense. The Oklahoma defense, however, did not let the poor performance define them.

On Saturday, while Florida celebrated its legendary former players and coaches, the Sooner defense played one of its best games of the season. Oklahoma allowed just 203 yards of offense. They also forced two turnovers and allowed just one short-yardage touchdown in the 23-7 road win over Florida. That type of bounce-back is what head coach and defensive coordinator Brent Venables is proud of regarding his group. 

“All the responsibility of the performance from a week ago lies at my feet,” Venables said postgame. “Incredibly disappointed a week ago, and hurt for the guys because they deserved better. Probably overcoached them, had them playing on their heels, and for them to come back after an embarrassing performance and perform the way they did, regardless of who we’re playing… it’s what we did on Monday. It’s their willingness to let us push and challenge them, tell them the truth, take responsibility on themselves, and then put the work in to put this game plan together.”

Oklahoma took advantage of the changes Florida was forced to make before the game. It included adjustments on the offensive line and at quarterback. The Gators opted to roll with Tramell Jones as the signal-caller, and Oklahoma spoiled his return to the field, limiting him to just 133 yards on 10-of-22 passing and intercepting him twice, courtesy of Courtland Guillory and Peyton Bowen. Oklahoma also sacked the dual-threat talent three times. Junior defensive end Dany Okoye, who made his first career start on Saturday, recorded one of the sacks. He explained the Sooners' approach to bounce back from last week’s tough performance.

“We kind of just went back to attacking the details,” Okoye said postgame. “We were aware of the fact that we put bad stuff on tape, and really wanted to bounce back from that and fix the mistakes and hone in on those details… I’m proud of my guys, man. I feel like we really went out there and played for each other.”

Oklahoma (5-4, 3-3 SEC) now looks to replicate that performance against No. 19 Ole Miss (6-3, 4-3 SEC) at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.