Why Oklahoma can win national title with historically bad defense

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — If you're defined by the company you keep, that Oklahoma's defense slots in nationally between Kansas and Indiana in the key metric of yards allowed per play justifies the hand-wringing and consternation that accompanied this unit throughout the regular season.

The Sooners allow 6.03 yards per play, good for 101st in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and saw a steep decline in production as the schedule toughened in November. In comparison, the combined total of the rankings for the past nine national champions in the statistic is…