Oklahoma Sooners Football: Does Defense Win Championships?

If there is one thing to be learned from the travesty that was last year's national championship rematch, it's that the age old adage "defense wins championships" appears to have never been truer.

In an age where so much focus is put on the spread offense and scoring, the Oklahoma Sooners (and the entire Big 12, for that matter) have forsaken the defense in favor of the flair of offense.

Things weren't always this way. Remember back in 2000 when Bob Stoops won a national championship in just his second year as head coach? That team relied heavily on its defense all the way to the title game and shutting out Florida State.

So, what happened? When did the focus shift away from the defense and on to the offense?

Let's take a little closer look at that 2000 national championship team. 

In 2000, the Sooners defense gave up fewer than 15 points a game while scoring 37. While it took a few lucky breaks throughout the season, the defense ultimately kept the Sooners in every game even when the offense stalled.

The offense actually wasn't bad though. Thirty-seven points a game is nothing to scoff at. It seems as though for that one year, Stoops found the perfect combination of offense and defense.

Since 2000? The offensive production has steadily increased (outside of the 2005 team led by Paul Thompson and Rhett Bomar) while the defense has slowly declined.

The real mind-boggler? In 2009, when the Sooners posted their worst record in a decade going 8-5, they gave up the fewest points per game (14.5) since 2001.

How did this happen? How did the Sooners have their best defensive effort in the Brent Venables era yet post their worst record?

Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham both going down with injuries in the first game and before the season ever started put the offense in a huge hole. Had the Sooners not been plagued with injuries on the offensive side of the ball that year, it's hard not to speculate what could have been.

The obvious conclusion? It takes a perfect mix of solid offense, defense and luck to pull off a national championship run.

The injury bug has plagued the Sooners for a number of years and really prevented all three of the needed ingredients for a title run to take place.

Defense may be the most important ingredient in the mix, but a team cannot win every game on defense alone. Sometimes even the perfect mix of offense and defense doesn't get it done either as the magic eight-ball deals you an injury or bad bounce of the ball.

Will Mike Stoops bring the Sooner Magic back to Norman? I can't wait to find out.