After fielding arguably the best offense in college football for several years, the Oklahoma Sooners need the defense to do better in 2019 in case of a potential dropoff in offensive production.

Because of graduations and the NFL Draft, OU lost their starting quarterback, their best wide receiver and four of the five starting offensive lineman from the best line in the nation.

Will there be a dropoff on offense?

“We don’t plan on the offense dipping,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said during Big 12 Media Days in Dallas. “The second part of that, we definitely expect our defense to be better. I don’t think there is any doubt. That’s why we have recruited as hard as we have. That’s why we made the changes on the coaching staff that we’ve made.

“As we feel like there is going to be positive results behind that. What we have been able to see behind the scenes up to this point get you encouraged and excited that both those things will happen. The expectations are very high on both sides of the ball and we feel like we’ve got the right people in place to meet those expectations.”

To improve the defense, Riley hired defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. Grinch ran a successful Washington State defense before spending 2018 as Greg Schiano’s co-coordinator at Ohio State. OU was young but talented on defense last season. Ten of the 19 players who made at least nine tackles last year were freshman or sophomores. Six of those were in a beleaguered secondary.

“(Defense is) a huge part of your football team,” Riley said. “We haven’t played our best defensively consistently through the years but in a lot of big games – including the last won in here (in Dallas) – we’ve played pretty darn good. We’ve got to do that more consistently to make ourselves a better team and we feel like we’ve taken the steps to do that.”

OU was in the Top 15 in defense nationally in seven of the last eight seasons before defensive coordinator Brent Venables left for Clemson. Riley fired former defensive coordinator Mike Stoops (brother of former head coach Bob Stoops) in the middle of the year last season.

The revamping of the defense began during spring practice.

“I think for us it was first in spring football getting a baseline of schematically what we wanted to do and more importantly starting to understand the mentality that we want to play with defensively and I think Alex and his staff have done a great job setting the foundation with that for our players,” Riley said. “When you get to summer you only get eight hours a week with these guys which is not very much. So they’ve got to know what they need to work on so a lot of spring for us was educating them on things we need to do to get better. You can’t get it all done at once, it is a step-by-step process and we do have to get better at it each day. But I think our guys had a good concept of the things they needed to improve on from a mentality standpoint and physical standpoint and learning and understanding schematically what we want to do. I think it’s a process. I think it’s a hungry group. There are a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball and they’re eager to play their very best ball.”

Last year, Riley said Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Kyler Murray (the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals) was “neck and neck” with Austin Kendall to start for the Sooners. Kendall transferred to West Virginia and could start for the Mountaineers this season.

This year, Jalen Hurts, a graduate transfer from Alabama, is competing with Tanner Mordecai and true freshman Spencer Rattler to start at quarterback.

Some pundits are saying that Hurts, who won a national title with Alabama, is a lock to start and could wind up being the third OU quarterback in three years to win the Heisman Trophy (Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 pick of the Cleveland Browns, won in 2017).

“He brings game experience that Baker and Kyler did not have when they got here, but also doesn’t have as much experience in the system,” Riley said of Hurts. “It has been quicker but it’s been fun. He’s been eager. There have been things that we do that he’s been able to trace back kind of the roots to different things that he’s done at Alabama or even in high school. So it’s not like you’re starting from scratch. It’s a fun process. He’s a smart kid. He’s eager and works very hard at it, and we have meshed together well.”

Expectations for OU are high. The Sooners have won four Big 12 Championships in a row and are picked to win again in 2019. And they have been in three of the last four College Football Playoffs.

“That’s always a challenge,” Riley said. “It’s complacency, not letting it set in and for returning guys not assuming it’s going to happen because it did before and for new guys not assuming it’s going to happen because the players did it before, when I wasn’t there. It’s a new team, a new challenge.

“I think the expectations and standard of Oklahoma football are so high that it almost helps a little bit in a funny way. It almost helps you refocus in that, yeah, the last four were great, but what about the fifth one? That’s the mindset around the program.

“I think we’ve got a good culture. I think our guys understand and have a healthy respect for how difficult each and every championship has been, each and every win has been. We have had to play our tails off and coach our tails off to get it done, and that’s how it should be in the Big 12 and to make another run will be just as difficult if n ot more difficult and it will take everything we have.”

Riley doesn’t think the Big 12’s reputation for bad defense is deserved.

“I think great defense will be played in this league and I think the future for this league is as bright as any league in the country. I really do,” Riley said.