Brent Venables stood silent on the Sooners’ sideline with his arms folded over his white OU polo. Ten or so yards in front of him was OU’s offense huddled during the two-minute warning.
Venables had a brief chat with a couple members of the offense before walking back to the sideline, where he spent the majority of the timeout while his offense schemed for their last drive, the closest they came to scoring a touchdown.
For the second time in his three years as Oklahoma’s head coach, the southeast half of the Cotton Bowl was nearly empty, and had mostly cleared out by the halfway point of the fourth quarter.
Cotton Bowl crowd with over 5 minutes left in the Red River Rivalry: pic.twitter.com/onrGBIqdmQ
— Louis Raser (@LouisRaser) October 12, 2024
As Venables dropped his headset around his neck, he was forced to face the reality of being responsible for two of the program’s four largest losses to Texas since 1974.
Those two games are also the only ones since 1998, one season before Bob Stoops was hired, where OU has failed to score a touchdown against Texas. After the game, Venables, who has 23 years as a defensive coordinator under his belt, was focused on the Sooners’ defensive struggles against Texas.
“At the end of the day,” Venables said after OU’s two-point showing dropped it to the second worst scoring offense in the SEC, “what I was most disappointed in was the defensive side of the ball.
While defensive lapses were certainly present on Saturday, the theme of No. 18 Oklahoma’s (4-2, 1-2 SEC) 34-3 loss to No. 1 Texas (6-0, 2-0) and the struggles OU has faced all season have come from the offense. That side of the ball has been Venables’ biggest failure in year three as Oklahoma’s coach. How he addresses it, and whether he remains on the sidelines focusing his energy on the defense, or faces it head on, will determine his legacy in Norman.
“It’s a matter of having the right people coaching on the offensive side of the ball,” former 27-year Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder told the OU Daily. Snyder coached Venables when he was a player and hired him as an assistant coach. “Brent will give them the appropriate amount of room to operate.
"The anticipation is that you believe it’s always the right guy for the position when you hire them. Now, if you hire somebody and have that expectation for them and they don’t hold up that end of the bargain, then you have to step in.”
OU head coach Brent Venables and Sooners before the game against Texas on Oct. 12, 2024.
One of freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.’s final passes traveled through the hands of a wide-open Jake Roberts in the end zone. With the absence of its top five wide receivers, OU’s tight end room has been called upon to step up. Yet, Roberts failed to convert on the Sooners’ best chance at a touchdown, while junior Bauer Sharp’s blocking continued to struggle.
It was tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley who Venables promoted to co-offensive coordinator last offseason, one year after his group produced its worst receiving production since 2014 with 252 yards.
The Sooners have also yet to throw for 200 yards in a game this season under co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell’s play calling. After the game, Littrell put a large part of the offensive blame on himself, as he’s done multiple times this season.
“It’s been inconsistent, and that starts with me,” Littrell said of the offense. “I’ll be the first to say it; I’ve got to get better. (I have to) put them in better situations to be successful.”
The Sooners’ quarterback room is headlined by two underclassmen — sophomore Jackson Arnold and freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. And while Venables has emphasized the need to develop the Sooners’ young talent, hiring Littrell, who’s never been a quarterbacks coach, as the position coach doesn’t seem to fit that sentiment.
“When you’ve got some guys that are inexperienced,” Venables said, “we’ve got to continue to help them and get them to know what to do on every play.”
Meanwhile, the Sooners’ inefficiency in the run game continued, averaging 2.3 yards per carry on 39 attempts.
On the same day, former OU running back Tawee Walker rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns with Wisconsin — more than the Sooners backfield as a whole has rushed for since week one against Temple. Walker was not on scholarship with OU despite being its No. 2 rusher last season with 513 yards.
Former Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 212 yards in the first half of No. 3 Oregon’s win over No. 2 Ohio State. The Sooners’ quarterbacks have yet to throw for 200 yards in any of their six games.
Even former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby led the SEC’s second worst offense to 385 total yards and 31 points in Mississippi State’s loss to No. 5 Georgia.
Lebby was heavily criticized by many in Norman before his departure, Gabriel was presumed to not have a starting job regardless of if he stayed, and Walker left still having not received a scholarship.
The pieces Oklahoma’s offense lost from a year ago, when it finished as the No. 4 scoring offense nationally, haunts it.
“In the game of football itself, the coaching aspect of it has become more and more difficult every single year,” Snyder said. “There’s a great deal of uncertainty that goes along with it. When you have change, it’s always difficult to get everybody on the same page.
“... One of the responsibilities that a coach carries is to bring everyone up together. That doesn't happen overnight.”
With seconds left in the first half, Texas kicker Bert Auburn missed a 44-yard field goal attempt, but Venables had called a timeout just before the snap, giving Texas a second chance.
It was that kind of game, and it’s been that kind of third season, for Venables. As his questionable game management continues and the coaches he hired on offense fail to produce, seemingly every decision Venables has made has turned against him.
“It starts with me,” Venables said of the Sooners’ struggles. “I’ve got to do a better job of having these guys prepared and ready to play.”
Senior Danny Stutsman arrived Saturday wearing a horns down necklace, and senior safety Billy Bowman shouted “they not ready” while entering Cotton Bowl Stadium.
Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman are hereBilly Bowman: “They not ready!”#Sooners pic.twitter.com/vs0qByGY9U
— Josh Callaway (@JoshMCallaway) October 12, 2024
As OU players then crowded around Venables while he delivered a raspy-voiced, intense pregame message, it seemed that despite being two touchdown underdogs, OU was amped for the challenge.
“I guess last year we left a little bit of doubt,” Venables said, alluding to OU’s thrilling 34-30 win in 2023. “Leave no doubt today.”
Leave no doubt. @CoachVenables | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/wsXDHRDZVq
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) October 12, 2024
Outside of freshman cornerback Eli Bowen and punter Luke Elzinga — the two players Venables touted as bright spots in the loss — the Sooners are full of doubt.
Hours after Bowman’s pregame sentiment, it was clear OU are the ones who aren’t ready to compete against Texas, or the top half of teams in the SEC. Head coach Steve Sarkisian led the Longhorns to the No. 3 seed and a spot in the College Football Playoff in his third season as head coach, and has built upon that this year as Texas sits comfortably in the AP No. 1 spot.
Six games into Venables’ third season, Oklahoma, who fell out of the AP Poll on Sunday, is nowhere near making the College Football Playoff, and instead has shifted focus to fixing the offensive troubles.
“We’re 4-2,” Venables said. “We’ve got the back half of our season sitting in front of us, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
It makes sense as to why Venables is focusing on the defense — it struggled Saturday and is what OU’s coach knows best. But the defense has shown their potential as one of the premier units in the conference. Offensively, nothing of that nature has been shown. Furthermore, Venables has proven his ability to coach premier defenses at Clemson and Oklahoma, leading three of them to national championship wins.
The decisions he makes regarding OU’s disastrous offense, and whether he’s able to face it head on, will determine his fate in Norman.
Snyder trusts that Venables will identify the weaknesses and fix them. But for now, Venables must live with the daunting label many put on him after Saturday — the defensive equivalent of Lincoln Riley.
“Brent is a strong minded football coach,” Snyder said. “He’s awfully good at identifying what the trouble spots happen to be and then investing in being able to correct those particular problems.
“He’s in a position where he’s going to step in and help anywhere and everywhere that he can.”
