Off the heels of a devastating loss to No. 12 Kentucky, head coach Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle will look to rebound as they hit the road to Starkville, Mississippi. Venables missed Tuesday’s presser due to flu-like symptoms and was replaced by associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator Todd Bates at the podium.
Here are takeaways:
Ben Arbuckle continues to back John Mateer
Despite another turnover-riddled outing from fifth-year quarterback John Mateer, Arbuckle defended his quarterback at the podium.
Mateer threw three interceptions, including a late pick-six that took Kentucky’s lead to 21-13, solidifying an OU loss.
“Throughout everything that he's done, the player that he is, the preparation that he has, we believe that John Mateer gives us the best chance to win,” Arbuckle said.
Although he defended Mateer, the second-year OU offensive coordinator understands that Mateer’s critical turnovers need to stop for the team to win games.
“We have to eliminate back-breaking errors, catastrophic errors for all the good that he does,” Arbuckle said. “We have to eliminate those, and he's not alone in that. I take full responsibility for those plays whenever they happen. Ultimately, I'm the one who calls the play out there. Ultimately, I'm the one who designs it. And if something bad happens, (I) believe it falls back on me.”
OU’s offense scored only 13 points on Saturday, but Arbuckle remains confident in the group’s ability and said he saw improvement from previous weeks.
“There was an improvement in a lot of different areas,” Arbuckle said. “We moved the ball down the field, but at the end of the day, we didn't finish in the red zone.”
The Sooners finished the game one-for-three in red zone opportunities, with the two unsuccessful trips ending in an interception on a fake field goal and a converted field goal to get OU on the board. Arbuckle was adamant that, if the team was successful inside the 20 yard-line, the outcome could have been different.
“We can't settle for field goals, and we can say what we want a lot about that last game,” Arbuckle said. “But ultimately, if we score touchdowns in the red zone, we win that football game.”
Todd Bates preaches starting faster against Mississippi State
Bates, who followed Venables to OU from Clemson, was eager to talk about Venables’ leadership as the season has taken a negative turn.
“He's the ultimate leader,” Bates said. “He comes in and he sets the thermostat every day, and that's win, lose or draw. He's always on 10, and he's always in attack mode and always looking at us, trying to self-scout us, and no matter if we had a good game on one side of the ball or one one side didn't, it doesn't matter to him. He comes to work, and we're going to look at those things that we didn't do right.”
Venables has had an up-and-down start to his OU tenure in his first five years, posting two 6-7 seasons and two 10-3 campaigns. With the schedule ahead and already six games behind them, this season is trending towards a .500 finish.
Bates wants to get back in the win column but understands the defensive unit will have to bring it against the Bulldogs’ formidable offense.
“The first thing we got to do is we got to start faster than we did last week against Kentucky,” Bates said.
Bates had two years working alongside Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby, who was OU’s offensive coordinator in 2022-23. Bates knows that the OU defense will have its hands full against Lebby’s offense.
“I learned that he's gonna go fast,” Bates said. “He goes fast, and their offense is almost warp speed at times. And the challenge is getting lined up correctly and accurately.”
Bates, alongside his players, hasn’t lost belief in what the team can accomplish as they look to bounce back from a loss.
“Their belief has not dwindled; it hasn't drained,” Bates said. “They come in every day, and they put in the same type of work, regardless (of) what the outcome was.”
Bates is looking at the tough start as a chance to grow as a team.
“I look at adversity as an opportunity,” Bates said. “You don't know who you are until you go through it. I know … we got in our locker room and on our staff is a bunch of fighters, and that's what we're doing, man. We're fighting, scratching and clawing, just trying to find ways to win. And it ain't got to be pretty. Sometimes, it's gritty. We'll take it any kind of way we can get it.”
This story was edited by Joshua McDaniel.
