With Danny Stutsman Back in Tow, Oklahoma's Defense Found Its Edge Against West Virginia

Saturday’s win was about getting some swagger back for Oklahoma.

The Sooners fired on all cylinders, snapping a two-game skid with an emphatic 59-20 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Jeff Lebby’s offense ran without a hitch for OU (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), and the return of linebacker Danny Stutsman fueled Brent Venables’ defense.

After giving up a score on the opening drive of the game, the Sooners buckled down.

Led by Stutsman’s eight tackles, OU held the Mountaineers to 255 total yards the rest of the game, including another goal line stand that started at the 3-yard line.

Though redshirt freshman Kip Lewis filled in admirably for Stutsman in Bedlam, Venables said there’s nothing like having his junior star back at the heart of the defense.

“Danny, no matter what the coach says or how good the redshirt freshman does that’s coming in in his place, Danny, there’s a real emotional lift that you get when he’s out there,” Venables said. “The toughness, and he loves to play, loves his teammates, loves to compete. I think he brings out the best in people when he’s out there. 

"But it was really good to get him back out there. For the most part, I think he will continue to get better and get healthy. Think he came off the field the one time, but I think he’s okay.”

Stutsman’s return didn’t cut into Lewis’ snaps, however.

Instead, the Sooners slid Stutsman over to the mike, where Jaren Kanak has predominately played, to put both Stutsman and Lewis on the field at the same time.

Lewis didn’t disappear alongside Stutsman, finishing the contest tied for second on the team with seven tackles.

“We’ve known for a while, Kip finds the

football,” Venables said. “He’s got a chance to have a really good future. It’s trying to find ways to continue to bring guys along and put our best group of guys out there and look at different combinations and things fo that nature.

“So, we’ve worked Danny and mike linebacker a lot, really since a year ago. So it’s not like that was new or foreign to him. He’s one of the few guys that can play multiple positions at a pretty high level. So just trying to find ways to continue to develop our team.”

The shift in duties took Stutsman a few drives to get used to, but then he was locked in with the rest of the defense to keep forcing West Virginia punts.

“It’s a little bit different,” Stutsman said after the game. “… It kind of took me a few series to kind of get it really down. I haven’t been getting too many reps so it was kind of, ‘Let’s just play some ball,’ and I’m good at that, so I was out there with all the guys and just playing mike backer.”

Once in the groove, Stutsman enjoyed getting to feature alongside Lewis, someone he’s poured a ton of time into as a veteran leader.

“I love it man,” Stutsman said. “Since he got here, a guy that I’ve taken under my wing a little bit and kind of shown him what it’s like to play Will backer and he’s done a tremendous job. He’s got a lot of instincts, just like myself and he does a phenomenal job just flying around and making plays.”

The Sooners now hit the road for the final away game of the season, a trip to Provo to take on BYU.

With Kansas and Oklahoma State’s slip-ups on Saturday, the race to get back to Arlington is again wide open.

But OU wasn’t focused on any of that Saturday, as the Sooners just wanted to snap their own losing streak and get back on track with just two games left in the regular season.

“We talked about responding,” Stutsman said. “The process doesn’t change. 0-0 obviously through the week. Really wanted to defend that Palace, undefeated (at home) this year and we want to have all the fans come out and put on a show for ‘em for sure.”

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