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Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables' postgame press conference after the Sooners' 51-3 win over Temple.

Filmed and edited by Aryanna Smith

Chapters:

00:00 - Brent Venables recaps the game

03:49 - Brent Venables on Jalil Farooq and Branson Hickman's injuries

04:31 - What was the biggest thing that stood out to you on the defensive front and the way they played the field?

06:01 - Brent Venables on the running game and Demarco Murray

06:49 - Brent Venables on Taylor Tatum

07:04 - Brent Venables on Deion Burks' future

07:41 - Is it safe to say you have to be patient with the new offense to get going?

08:43 - Brent on Tyler Keltner and Zach Schmit

09:33 - What do you think about Jackson's decision-making?

10:41 - How did the communication work with the offense and defense?

10:46 - Brent Venables on Andrel Anthony Jr. return

11:21 - Brent Venables on Michael Hawkins' debut

11:55 - Brent Venables on the fill-ins for Jalil Farooq

12:23 - What potential does Bauer Sharp add to your offense

13:00 - Brent Venables talks complete players for rush and pass

13:56 - Brent Venables on Walker's interception and Dolby

14:36 - Is Woodi 100% the same for Gentry?

15:29 - Is Jake Taylor in the same boat too?

15:44 - Brent Venables on new young receivers

16:27 - What do you think about the special team unit not giving up a long run?

17:03 - How important was it today to get Zach Alley further settled into this division?

18:13 - Brent Venables on defense

No. 16 Oklahoma (1-0) defeated Temple (0-1) 51-3 on Friday in Norman. 

Here is what head coach Brent Venables said after the game:

Opening statement:

“Good win for our guys. Really proud of all their work and their effort over the last several weeks and months to get to this moment. We got a chance to win 51-3, and played really well in some spots, we had several superlatives. We played 84 players tonight, and really proud of the defense, from start to finish, really played outstanding. I mean six sacks, nine tackles for loss, forced six turnovers and scored a touchdown. First time. I think we had six turnovers in the game since 2003. We only had six forced fumbles last year, and we had four tonight. Really, I loved how aggressive and confident our guys were moving around, flying to the ball and being aggressive and knocking the ball loose. Fantastic job by the defense.

“Our offense, they scored on six of the first eight drives. They created a lot of short fields. The four turnovers in the first half, they converted it into two touchdowns and two field goals. Had a few issues getting into a good rhythm at times on offense. I thought Jackson played really efficiently again. He was 17 of 25, but he had four four drops. Got to make those plays, and one of them would have gone for a ways, but I thought he played efficiently. There's a few decisions whether you give it or throw it that we got to get cleaned up. It was good to get Mike Hawkins in the game, and that group of guys who were able to play a bunch of young guys, both at the skill position and the guys up front. Thought that again, they did some really good things. Again, we went in with a really simple, clean game plan, structurally and scheme wise, we felt that's what we needed to do in order to win. “

On injuries:

“I think Branson (Hickman) got an ankle sprain, and so we'll see where that is. Jalil (Farooq) is going to have surgery. He ended up breaking his foot, and so he'll get a screw put in that, and that's a six to eight week recovery for him. Hate that for him, he had a great camp, but hopefully we'll get him back here in a month and a half or so.”

On the defense:

“We were vertical, active and stayed on our feet. They did a really nice job with block recognition, squeezing and condensing gaps. Some of our movements that we did up front, I thought they played a great pad level. I just thought we were sure what we were doing completely. Really good pad level, excellent with our hands. We got a lot of knock back, and we made it hard for them to run the ball downhill. They tried to run downhill. They had some counters where they're pulling two people. They got the ball outside on a jet sweep early. But really, other than that, weren't able to get outside.”

On Taylor Tatum and Deion Burks:

“You could see his explosiveness. He’s got great power, he runs through trash, and he’s got excellent top end speed, really good natural instincts carrying the ball.

“For Burks, it was the first time ever a Sooner player caught three touchdowns in his debut…Deion did fantastic. Deion did exactly what he’s done since he’s been here. He is explosive, he makes things happen, he knows how to get open and he is really competitive. It was good to get him going tonight.”

On Andrel Anthony:

“He’s worked really hard, so tonight’s game will do a lot for him and his confidence. Usually it takes you about a year to get back to where you were after an ACL. That is mentally and physically…So it is great to get him back going, he is long and super explosive, and I look forward to getting him in the offense full time.”

On the tight end room:

“I think it just gives you balance, and it allows you to do some things in both the run and the pass. These are guys who are good at blocking and it gives us an advantage from that standpoint. Then they can attack the middle of the field, do outlets, things of that nature. These are really good athletes that understand the passing game and spacing. So, that will be a good group of guys that’s going to help us have really good balance inside and outside.”

On Zac Alley’s first game:

“Things went like we hoped it would go, but I just loved the aggressiveness, forcing the turnovers, a lot of hard hitting, and really getting overall excellent positioning and having a depth of guys that knew what to do. So all the coaches have done a really nice job of getting guys ready, but it was great for Zac. Those guys had confidence going into the game, and certainly we'll take the confidence out, knowing that again, you got to start over and learn a new DNA, a new opponent, but he got the game ball, and they put him up top, and he swag surfed. So they had some fun, it was good.”

On the season’s outlook:

“There's a lot of different challenges in the immediate future, and I think everybody in the locker room understands that. At the same time, we're not apologizing for playing well tonight. You know, despite what we're playing against, what they can do, what they 're good at, things of that nature. So, mission accomplished, if you will. Again, this is going to be a season that presents stronger challenges, and we're going to figure out a lot about who we are and what we want to be. I've said before, things we didn't do well last year is that we didn't play consistently, we gave up way too many big plays… but this year I really like where we're at from a competitive depth standpoint, and what we've seen up to this point in time.”

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