The SEC has forever been known as a “defense-first” conference overall. The Big 12 has been known as the opposite – an “offense-first” conference.
While the SEC has actually averaged 30 points per game since 2018 compared to the Big 12’s 29 points per game average, the difference can be seen on defense. The Big 12 averages 28 points per game allowed, and the SEC 24. While that doesn’t seem like much overall, breaking it down further shows an even larger average gap of defensive averages between the two conferences.
Given the numbers, the tables could flip between who will become the more prominent program between historic Big 12 rivals the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners as both transition to the SEC in 2024. Steve Sarkisian is currently in his fourth season as the head coach of the Longhorns, while Brent Venables is in his second as head coach of the Sooners.
Sarkisian is an offensive-minded coach with previous head coaching stints at the University of Washington and the University of Southern California. Off the field issues cost Sarkisian his job at USC, but he gained some more experience at the University of Alabama a few years later where he worked as an offensive analyst and then offensive coordinator before taking the head coaching position with the Longhorns.
While Sarkisian has turned the Longhorns into a national contender and appears to be emphasizing defensive recruiting just as much as offensive, the Oklahoma Sooners hired a defensive minded coach which should set them up for a much greater chance of success in the SEC.
Brent Venables will have Oklahoma outperforming Texas in the SEC
Venables has a lot less head coaching experience than Sarkisian, but coached the Sooners on the defensive side of the ball from 1999-2011 under Bob Stoops leading the Big 12 in scoring defense four times. Venables gained even more experience as a defensive coordinator departing Oklahoma for Clemson where he coached under Dabo Swinney from 2012-2021 before taking the head coaching job in Norman for the 2022 season.
All of this experience seemed to show in a culmination of sorts after an impressive and surprising by many performance against the Longhorns in week six of the 2023 season. The Sooners defeated the Longhorns 34-30. While the points allowed total wasn’t that impressive for the Sooners in this one, you can tell that Venables has the program headed in the right direction on both sides of the ball, and that there’s an emphasis on defense more-so now than ever.
In 2022, the programs first year under Venables, the Sooners allowed a season average of 29.6 points per game. So far in 2023, the Sooners have allowed an average of 14 points per game in six games so far this season, which leads the Big 12. Last year, they ranked eighth.
The Longhorns have held their own on defense comparing the last two seasons as well. In 2022, the Longhorns allowed a season average of 21.2 points per game which was good enough for third in the conference. This year so far, they’ve allowed an average of 16.3, which is second only to the Sooners.
Again however, with Venables being a defensive-minded coach at his roots, this could heavily favor the Sooners in the long-term as both head off to the SEC in 2024 where defense won’t be optional, but necessary.