The Oklahoma Sooners had an uneven defensive showing against the Michigan Wolverines in Week 2, losing by a final score of 17-10. It was the first real test of OU's 2026 season, and Brent Venables' team fell flat overall. A rocky first half defensively gave way to a better second half, but Venables' defense didn't get enough from his offense to emerge victorious.
Predictably, Pro Football Focus's game grades reflected that up-and-down performance. For context, any grade between 60 and 70 is considered average at the college level, while 71 to 84 is considered above average to great. Anything above an 85 is an elite grade.
OU's defense was graded out at 67.0 overall, which puts them in the average category. However, let's look at the individual
grades for each of the players who registered a snap on the defensive side of the ball in the Big House. These grades and snaps counts are slightly impacted by the injuries to starting linebacker Kip Lewis and starting free safety Michael Boganowski. No Sooner played all 63 defensive snaps, but a few defenders played nearly every snap.
- DT David Stone: 49 snaps - 58.8 overall grade
- DT Jayden Jackson: 47 snaps - 74.1 overall grade
- DT Bishop Thomas: 14 snaps - 68.8 overall grade
- DT Trent Wilson: 10 snaps - 64.3 overall grade
- DT Danny Saili: 6 snaps - 44.5 overall grade
- DT Nigel Smith II: 2 snaps - 61.5 overall grade
- DE Taylor Wein: 52 snaps - 84.8 overall grade
- DE Adepoju Adebawore: 35 snaps - 65.9 overall grade
- DE Danny Okoye: 24 snaps - 59.1 overall grade
- DE Kenny Ozowalu: 9 snaps - 72.5 overall grade
- DE Jake Kreul: 5 snaps - 67.9 overall grade
- DE Wyatt Gilmore: 2 snaps - 59.9 overall grade
- LB Owen Heinecke: 56 snaps - 49.4 overall grade
- LB Cole Sullivan: 43 snaps - 51.7 overall grade
- LB James Nesta: 27 snaps - 70.2 overall grade
- LB Kip Lewis: 10 snaps - 60.2 overall grade
- Cheetah Reggie Powers III: 53 snaps - 74.2 overall grade
- CB Eli Bowen: 59 snaps - 73.5 overall grade
- CB Courtland Guillory: 50 snaps - 37.7 overall grade
- CB Jacobe Johnson: 14 snaps - 51.9 overall grade
- SS Peyton Bowen: 61 snaps - 72.5 overall grade
- FS Omarion Robinson: 35 snaps - 61.7 overall grade
- FS Michael Boganowski: 35 snaps - 49.4 overall grade
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: How did Oklahoma's defense grade out against Michigan by PFF?
