Oklahoma’s defense may have to answer its toughest question of the season without Kip Lewis.
The star linebacker went down against Michigan after what looked like a serious right knee injury. Pro Football Focus credited him with 10 snaps, but the reality was even more chaotic: Lewis was on the field for only a few plays, tried to return, and then was shut down again before his day ended.
After the game, Brent Venables said he didn’t know the full extent of the injury, only that Lewis would “miss some time.”
That’s a problem for a Sooners defense that has the pieces to survive most setbacks, but not many at linebacker. Venables has spent five seasons building depth on that side of the ball, and Oklahoma’s overall defensive strength gives it some cushion.
Still, linebacker has long been the thinnest room on the unit, and Lewis isn’t just any starter. He’s a captain and one of the best players on the team.
Lose him, and the margin gets thin fast.
“Lose a guy like Kip. I mean, he's a good player," Venables said after the game.
"But I thought the other guys came in, and we reestablished a rhythm, especially in the second half. Seventy-five yards on 25 plays.
So did a lot of good things to make that happen."
The Sooners are going to need that belief to hold up over the next month, because there isn’t much time to sort through replacements. Oklahoma has already lived through a similar linebacker loss before. Ryan Reynolds’ injury in the 2008 Red River game helped turn a 21-10 OU lead into a 45-35 defeat, and the Sooners spent weeks trying to patch that spot before Mike Balogun finally emerged later.
This time, the schedule won’t wait.
For now, the pressure shifts to Owen Heinecke and Cole Sullivan. Heinecke stepped into the WILL linebacker role and finished with a team-high 10 tackles and a sack against Michigan, but the day still came with missed tackles and breakdowns. Venables specifically pointed to a missed tackle for loss by Nesta and Heinecke after Mateer’s fourth-quarter interception.
Heinecke knows the standard hasn’t changed.
“Kip's an emotional and on-the-field leader, but the expectation is there's no drop-off,'' Heinecke said. "I think Nesta did a good job with stepping up in that situation.
Obviously there's gonna be a lot to learn from and get better. But credit to Nesta and praying for Kip.
Hoping that he's feeling alright."
Sullivan, meanwhile, has to do more. He returned to Ann Arbor and managed just one tackle, a line that won’t be enough if Oklahoma wants to keep its defensive level where it expects it to be.
“Losing a guy like Kip is huge, it's a huge loss," Sullivan said. "We obviously didn't play a perfect game.
There were some more plays to be made out there. We have to get better from that.
We're going to see how long Kip is going to be out. So, we just have to prepare."
James Nesta got the first extended look as Lewis’ replacement and was the sixth-highest-rated defensive player for Oklahoma in his 27 snaps. The future still looks bright for him, but that future has arrived early, and now the Sooners need it to count immediately.
Oklahoma believes in its depth. It has to.
But if Lewis is out for a while, Heinecke and Sullivan won’t just be filling in. They’ll be carrying the burden of keeping the defense from finding a hole it can’t fully cover.
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