Why Oklahoma Football Is Not Going in the Right Direction

NORMAN — Many Oklahoma fans agree with the football coach’s sentiments. Brent Venables one thing at a time.

“I know at the end of the day, losing three games in a row really sucks,” Venables said this week. “It stinks.”

Yeah. The coach and fans agree on this issue.

The Sooners are mired in a three-game losing streak for the second time under Venables, after 24 years without such a terrible stain.

Oklahoma has become a glittering city on a hill for college football programs looking to achieve consistent wins. At the Big 12 Conference Bob Stoops And Lincoln Riley won a total of 14 league championships in 21 years. What other major college program can say that? Not Alabama, not Ohio State, not Michigan. Not Georgia, not Texas, and definitely not USC.

But here Venables sits with a coaching record of 20-14, just 3-5 against teams in the AP Top 25 and three chances ahead – at Missouri next week, at Alabama in Norman in the next game and at LSU on Nov. 30. — make this recording better or worse.

Venables’ career winning percentage now stands at .588. For comparison: Gary Gibbs‘ was 0.652 (44-23-2).

Venables’ career certainly resembles Gibbs’. Gibbs was a former varsity linebacker turned defensive coordinator and was hired to bring his steely stoicism to a program that needed a post-college cleanup.Barry Switzer era. Venables was a former OU linebackers coach who became defensive coordinator and was hired to bring his serious attention to a program that needed cleaning up in the post-Lincoln Riley era.

Gibbs’ only sin as Oklahoma’s coach was failing to beat Nebraska, Colorado or Texas, going 2-15-1 against those big three. Outside of those 18 games, his career record over six seasons was 42-8-1, or .833. Switzer won 83.7 percent of his games. Stoops scored 79.9 percent.

But no one outside of Gibbs’ immediate family suggested the Sooners were headed in the right direction under his leadership.

2 2/3 seasons later, the same can be said for the Sooners under Venables.

Championships are the standard in Oklahoma, not incremental improvement. And that’s all Venables has for now.

“We’re playing a lot better defensively and we’ve certainly made a lot of progress in our kicking game,” he said.

And the offense is historically bad – the only real problem in a season where a shocking upset in November is the team’s only hope of continuing their 24-year Cup run.

Hey, losses happen. But all four of OU’s losses this year have been by double digits. Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and Ole Miss combined to outscore the Sooners 120-41. Oklahoma led the Rebels 14-10 at halftime in Oxford, but games against the Vols, Longhorns and Gamecocks (two of which were in Norman) were over by halftime.

Venables also points to the improvements the offense has made since 2023 compared to 2022 when he was a rookie. Jeff Lebby he had another year under his belt, Dillon Gabriel was a year closer to becoming the Heisman frontrunner for a national championship contender (Oregon, not Oklahoma), and OU’s offensive efficiency and explosiveness were better.

But faced with the need to hire a new OC and bring in a new QB, Venables and his team became choked up. Seth Littrell that was not the answer, and Jackson Arnold did not develop. The OU coaching staff this season is as follows: “incredibly lacking” —Venables’ words.

Venables can’t be blamed for injuries to his top five receivers. This is the blow that no one could have foreseen. But if OU had at least all five of them this season, would it have been enough to beat Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina and Ole Miss? May be.

But when Venables returned to Norman and decided to stay on the roster, everyone saw the lack of offensive linemen. Bill Bedenbaugh as offensive line coach. A more serious and determined effort could yield better results either through high school recruiting rankings or the NCAA transfer portal. Instead, the Sooners’ email inbox has trailed their outgoing inbox for three years in a row, and the offense is now tied with perhaps the worst line in school history.

By the way, these are not subjective claims. Empirical data shows Oklahoma leads the team by a wide margin this season with 39 quarterback sacks allowed. Since OU began keeping the statistic in 1992, the school record for sacks allowed was 41, set in 2015. That mark could have been broken by halftime of Saturday’s game against the Maine Black Bears at 11 a.m.

OU also ranks last in the country in yards per game at just 4.27. Only the 1961 (3.8) and 1965 (3.9) Sooners averaged less than that year’s team.

And this OU team is averaging just 3.05 yards per rush. It ranked 124th in the country this year (out of 133 teams) and would set a new school record for statistics dating back to 1947.

No, Oklahoma is not moving in the right direction, unless moving backwards is the direction.

Venables is right. Better protection. Zach Alley was a good candidate for the defensive coordinator position. But Ted Roof there wasn’t. However, Venables addressed the issue and fixed it. But Danny Stutsman And Billy Bowman The decision to return was an important part of the improved defense. How good will this squad be next year when they leave and the other front line players leave with them?

Special teams are better Doug Deakin what they were under Jay Nunezalthough Deakin is actually allowed to coach players under the new NCAA rules, while Nunez is not. So this is probably a push.

Overall, after going 6-7, 10-3 and now 4-4, Oklahoma is in circles.

How Joe John Finley And Kevin Jones and Jackson Arnold are moving forward and trying to improve this offense – neither of them are getting or offering any guarantees that they will be here in 2025 or beyond – the future is uncertain. The 2024 schedule remains one of the toughest in the country, and it will get even tougher next year as the Sooners play the same SEC opponents and also host 2023 national champion Michigan.

And in fact, Arnold was recruited by Lebby. Does he want to stay next year to play for a third-year QB coach and offensive coordinator? Michael Hawkins has declared his love for OU, but may not have any ties to the new OC. And will the future decisions of Arnold and Hawkins lead to a QB in 2025? Kevin Sperryor make him nervous? And if the new OC insists on having his own starting line coach, how will that affect the impressive offensive line recruits in the 2024 and 2025 classes who have signed to play for Bedenbaugh? What other current players might return if their head coach is sent packing? Finley signed #1 tight end (Davon Mitchell), DeMarco Murray signed #1 running back (Taylor Tatum), And Emmett Jones was a master at landing prospects out wide.

“For a variety of obvious reasons, which you’ve probably reported over the last few weeks, there has been a decline in our attacking output – a precipitous decline this season,” Venables said. “But I have faith in the young talent we’ve recruited and the guys coming in the future and our ability to help recruit and improve our squad in today’s environment. We have a very good group of players going into our fourth year and again, I like the guys on our defensive staff and what Zach has done in combination with the other guys on our defensive staff. (They) did a great job and kept us in every game, giving us a chance.”

That statement provides a glimpse into Venables’ mindset: At heart, he’s a defensive coach who never thought much about how the offenses were run at Kansas State, Oklahoma or Clemson. It was always someone else’s problem. He had enough to do.

But now the whole table belongs to Venables – hell, the whole dining room: every plate, every cup, every fork, every saucer has his fingerprints on it. His focus needs to be holistic, and at $8 million a year, he needs to be more of a CEO than he was before. Never should a school with the resources of Oklahoma have one of the worst offenses in the country (or, as of 2016-2018, the defense).

Venables showed some of that strength and responsibility earlier this week when he was asked if he had spoken to the sporting director. Joe Castiglione the firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.

“I told him what I was going to do,” Venables said. “I didn’t talk to him about whether he thought about it or not – when I called him, I made a decision. That was great.

“Two weeks ago I had to make a difficult decision to help us get better. And I believe that this happened. But time will tell.”

He said he meets with Castiglione weekly and speaks with him throughout the week “per usual protocol.”

“He’s the best in the business. He’s been in a lot of situations, good and bad, tough situations, so being in this profession, the coaching profession, collegiate athletics, he has a lot of wisdom that can guide all of us as coaches here at this university.”

Asked if he felt he had a “vote of confidence” in Castiglione to lead the football team out of its current malaise, Venables didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, absolutely,” he said. “He has a good perspective. He knows something about whether this is a great match in terms of what we’re dealing with. That’s all the talk. “He kind of lives and dies at any point in the season, just like a coach would, but he’s also a great vessel of support.”

OU will beat Maine and the Sooners will likely look very good doing so. In seven previous meetings with FCS-level opponents, the average score was 62-4.

But this team doesn’t need wallpaper or display. This needs real improvement. To borrow Venables’ frequent first-grade mantra, he may not need to “strike him down to his studs” but there is some rot that needs to be removed. OU football has good bones, but the Sooners now compete in a new area. The foundation is strong. But the porch (disturbance) is in disrepair and the place could use a new roof.

What this team needs now is more reps, more snaps, more practice. To do that, they’ll have to stun Mizzou or Bama or LSU to get six wins and qualify for a bowl game. Then they’ll get 15 more postseason practices – and maybe then some real improvement can be made.

Venables certainly doesn’t think so.

“We’re on a three-game losing streak — hey, let’s get back on track,” he said. “Let’s start building a little momentum and maybe feel a little better. Winning heals a lot of things, and a certain amount of success develops confidence.

“If we make progress and get a few guys back and we can maybe build on some of the success we’ve had — not enough, but some success — to have a chance to string together a winning streak and finish the year. . It will be hard, it will be a big challenge. It’s doable. This is our goal.”