Brent Venables Tulsa Postgame Interview 9-16-23

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Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables speaks to the media following the Sooners' 66-17 victory over Tulsa.
Transcript
00:00 performance today. How you feel about the execution?
00:01 Oh, really, again, going on the road, first true road game, you know, the challenges
00:06 that presents, I thought, again, our guys handled it really good and, you know, put 66,
00:13 you know, on the scoreboard. Hasn't been done in some time, so we're doing a lot
00:19 really well on offense, in particular, precision, timing, Dylan was fantastic. I
00:24 think he completed 15 of his first 16 passes and started the game with a great
00:31 return. Unfortunately, we fumbled the ball there, but our guys had him hatted up and
00:36 blocked and really good execution there. And really, again, just pleased with the
00:42 precision on offense. Kicking game was pretty good and got plenty to clean up.
00:48 We had several penalties that, you know, put us in a bad position, but we were able
00:53 to overcome them. You're not always able to do that, so lots of things to teach and
00:57 learn from. I got a laundry list of things defensively, you know, that we got to get
01:02 cleaned up. We were sloppy at times, but, you know, forced five turnovers and had 15
01:07 tackles for loss. And, again, Danny had nine tackles, Gentry had six, plus, you
01:15 know, three in the turnover margin. That's, you know, plus six on the year. That's
01:19 fantastic. We're really good on red zone and third and fourth down on offense, but
01:24 not where we need to be on defense in either of those areas. But, again, lots to
01:31 teach and learn from. You know, Nick Anderson, first freshman in history, had
01:35 three touchdown catches with three receivers over 100 yards. And Jahlil had
01:41 over 100 yards receiving and 100 yards in returns. And that hadn't been done in,
01:47 you know, a long time. First time we've had five picks in a game in 20 years. So,
01:52 lots, again, to build from and, again, lots to correct and get better at. Like I
01:57 said, I felt defensively late in the second quarter in the first drive of the
02:03 second half. We were just sloppy, you know, and we got to get better there. But
02:09 really, really proud of the guys. They're hard work. Really like this team. And
02:14 so they're hungry. They're driven. But their willingness to do the hard things
02:18 is what I really like. And it goes, you know, it's on both sides of the ball, you
02:25 know. So, it's good. It's a good win. Got a great challenge, you know, going on the
02:30 road, you know, this week to Cincinnati and how they're playing. Gonna be a
02:33 really good challenge for us.
02:34 - And how cool was that moment, third quarter, whenever the defense calls for
02:38 noise and they get the noise and it seemed like the rest of the way they found
02:40 another gear for those younger guys?
02:42 - Yeah, great job, I guess. I didn't really pay attention to that. I'm looking
02:48 at fits and tackling and positioning and coverage and all that kind of stuff. But,
02:54 again, I thought that their quarterback, you know, that came in, I thought he did
02:58 a nice job. You know, they got in a really good rhythm for several drives and we
03:03 didn't tackle great and didn't fit things great and didn't leverage, you know, in
03:07 the passing game like we need to. We had a bust on the first touchdown. You know,
03:13 we thought he was in cover too and he's on the man's side. So, you know, can't
03:20 beat Oklahoma, you know. And again, those mistakes will really come back and hurt
03:25 you against good people. But, not today. We were good enough today to overcome
03:30 that. But, again, real thankful for the guys and the staff. It's good.
03:34 - Thanks coach.
03:35 - Yep.
03:36 - You said, you know, the way Dylan Gabriel played and your offense going
03:39 down the field. Talk about that, the aggressiveness and hands on the ball.
03:43 - Yeah, again, Dylan put a lot of really good balls out there today. You know,
03:52 just receivers did a great job of attacking leverage and being in a position of
03:59 dominance. And then we went up and made some competitive catches, several
04:02 competitive catches today. And, you know, a year ago we made some big plays,
04:10 plenty of big plays, but not as many competitive catches that you really want
04:15 when coverage is tight and people are surrounding you, draped all over you. And
04:19 today, again, was a good example of, you know, getting better in that way. But
04:25 Dylan, again, was fantastic. And, again, receivers did a great job of gaining
04:30 leverage and coverage and then going up and getting the ball.
04:33 - Brent, how big is it for guys when they get the opportunity to make plays? We
04:36 saw Tywee in week one and today you saw someone like Nick Anderson get a chance
04:40 to play and then to make plays and take advantage of their chance to make those
04:43 plays?
04:44 - Yeah, no, it's everything. We tell guys all the time, this week we might have
04:48 been majoring in, you know, one thing and stay ready, you know, and be ready for
04:52 your opportunity. And the hunger, the commitment, the willingness to stay
04:59 locked in and be ready for your opportunity is, again, through three weeks has
05:04 been there. And that's a great thing. There's lots of different ways that, you
05:08 know, we can win. And whether it's players and some of it's schemes, you know,
05:13 being on point, you know, quarterback, the precision, Dylan was incredibly
05:17 accurate today, you know, and made several really good plays and tight coverage.
05:22 But love that we spread the ball around. I think we had 11 different guys, you
05:26 know, catch a ball today.
05:28 - As successful as it was, Brent, to go deep today, what did you think of that as
05:32 the game plan coming in today? Coming off the last week where going deep wasn't
05:36 really part of the game plan.
05:38 - Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, going deep was a part of a week ago. We just
05:43 didn't get to it. And some of the disruptiveness that was going on and got out
05:48 of sync and, you know, again, the first drive of the game. Not that the first
05:51 drive should define you for the day, you know. It's going to be good stuff. It's
05:54 going to be bad stuff. You know, when we have what's in front of us, what our
06:01 vision is for what we want to accomplish, the success that we feel like, you know,
06:05 we can have this year, you know, there's going to be opposition. Things aren't
06:09 going to go your way. And, you know, we've got to, again, find different ways to
06:14 win. But today, those opportunities were there early and, you know, we capitalized
06:18 on them. But like I said, you know, the last couple of weeks, we can win, you
06:23 know, different ways. And lots of guys, you know, have the playmaking ability.
06:27 It was great to see us get the ball, you know, to a bunch of different guys.
06:31 - Brent, how has that been for you?
06:33 - Walker not getting any playing time in for such a big game last week?
06:36 - Yeah, again, a couple of the other guys, you know, were finally healthy and
06:44 trying to give them an opportunity, get them going and develop the depth there,
06:47 you know, at running back. Javante, they played just a little bit, you know, going
06:53 into the first couple of games. And then, you know, Sodchuk hadn't, you know,
06:58 really played. So, trying to get those guys going as well. And so, wasn't a
07:04 plan to stay away from Taoui. I was really trying to get the other guys going,
07:08 you know, today.
07:09 - Brent, your defense, Williams got you pretty good the first two or three
07:14 possessions he's in. After that, you sort of corralled him. What'd you do
07:18 different?
07:19 - Yeah, I thought we changed our pass rush lanes up a little better and just a
07:23 little more disciplined and then became a little better in some of the underneath
07:27 coverage stuff. And we didn't bust, you know, for the most part, you know. So,
07:34 we got to get a lot better and more disciplined. Again, a week ago, they go to
07:40 Washington and I think they had 21, 22 first downs and rushed for 170 yards, you
07:46 know, against a top 10 team. You know, we got to get better, you know. I thought
07:54 we let them off the hook several times on third down. And again, the red zone was
08:00 really poor. We had to bust for a touchdown. That can't happen. But nothing that
08:07 was overly dramatic from a scheme standpoint or didn't put a spy on them. We
08:11 just got a little cleaner and some of the stuff, you know, with some of the concepts
08:15 they were majoring in with him made slight adjustments. But just overall, just
08:21 played better, you know, fundamentally.
08:23 [Inaudible]
08:25 That's good.
08:26 [Inaudible]
08:29 Yeah, we'll have to see. But we'll evaluate him.
08:32 [Inaudible]
08:37 Yeah, no, again, we talked about that. Not letting, you know, those moments, you
08:41 know, distract you, you know, from what we need you to do today. So, you know, he
08:48 was, he felt terrible and we just tried to call him up, you know, in that moment.
08:52 He had a great return and, you know, but good lesson to learn. But he had a great,
08:58 great day. Again, I think that was, I'm trying to look, the first sooner ever,
09:09 maybe, I think, with 100 yards, receiving 100 yards in returns. So, that's pretty
09:15 good for all the, you know, elite players offensively that have played here.
09:19 Brent, you guys started 3-0 last year. You looked impressive. You're feeling
09:23 hopeful after that. Going into conference play, does this feel any different, this
09:27 start versus last year?
09:28 Well, again, we've said, I do think it's different. Does that mean, you know,
09:33 you're going to avoid, you know, the same result? I don't know. I mean, that's
09:38 determined, you know, we'll be determined by how our guys stay committed and stay
09:42 focused and not get distracted and not get bored with doing, you know, the little
09:47 things over and over and over. Staying disciplined to our process, how you play
09:52 at a high level, you know, the improvement that we have to continue to make. The
09:56 hunger, the leadership, the focus by everybody in the organization, you know,
10:03 will determine that. And, but, I do feel like, you know, we've got a better edge.
10:10 I think we have more maturity. I think we have a better football IQ. I think we
10:14 have, again, more competitive depth and, again, hunger, a chip on our shoulder,
10:19 all those things to, you know, to perform, you know, better than we did a year ago.
10:24 But everything's different, you know. You know, but this, I'm really excited. I
10:29 really like this football team and they're a fun group of guys and they're close
10:34 with each other. And that doesn't always mean you're going to win, but I do
10:38 believe that we've got a different level of depth and a different, you know, level
10:43 of, you know, overall commitment and a better, again, we had good leadership
10:47 last year, just didn't have enough. And I think we've got more guys that are
10:51 capable of winning and more guys that are capable of leading.
10:54 -Rick, five picks. How much of that is forethrown on their part? How much of it
10:58 is good instinct, your part being in the right place?
11:00 -Yeah, yeah. I wish, yeah. Listen, so if you, everybody looks at the final stats,
11:05 we're looking at it from the lens of Oklahoma, you know. But we watch a
11:09 turnover, highlight tape of the top turnover teams in college football,
11:14 turnover margin teams, and there's a lot of bad balls being thrown up and you
11:18 can't ever apologize. We're not going to apologize for making the plays that are
11:22 there. And so, some of that was them and we still made the play. A year ago, we
11:29 dropped eight dead in our hands interceptions. Have we just made those layups?
11:34 I'm not talking about a great play. I'm talking about the play that was there
11:38 that hit us in our hands, eight of them. We would have led the country in
11:44 turnovers, interceptions, and been a hell of a lot better, I believe, than our
11:51 six and seven record. So I'm not going to take that for granted, our guys making
11:57 the play when we're in position. And some of it, again, there's some pressure and
12:02 they're trying to make a play. That's football. That's football. We had one that
12:07 was like that too on our part. It hasn't been done in 20 years. There's probably
12:14 been plenty of poor throws from the opponents. So getting five of them is a
12:21 big deal.
12:22 It seems like Danny's getting better every week. He has the pick six today.
12:25 Is he a good example of what you're talking about, of just the improvement
12:28 from last year and this year?
12:30 Yeah, he's getting better. I always have a hard time. I'm a defensive guy and I
12:36 got this list of all this stuff that we got to do better on defense. I got a long
12:40 list here of all this stuff that we got to do better. Danny's been making great
12:43 improvement. But we as a defense and him as well, and us as coaches, all of us, we
12:49 got to clean a lot of stuff up. But super proud of him. He's always around the
12:55 ball. If he's not the first one there, he's one of the first. He's definitely in
12:59 the same area code. He's been our leader on defense. Nobody has strained as much
13:07 and led as much and was put in as much as Danny. Danny's been out in front for
13:18 this group of guys.
13:19 What's at the top of that list for you, Brent?
13:22 Just sloppiness. Just tackling. Some of our run fits and some bad eyes. We had
13:29 two busts in coverage today that can't happen. We let the quarterback escape.
13:34 We got to do a better job of rush lane integrity, how we're playing some certain
13:41 concepts. Too often we're not in a good position. But again, I thought our guys
13:51 were, again, we had 15 tackles for loss. Again, we did have three sacks and we
13:57 had five turnovers and plus three in the turnover margin. So there's a heck of a
14:00 lot more that was good than not. But several times on third down in particular,
14:06 we got sloppy in some of our coverage stuff that can't happen. Gave up a fork
14:11 route in 3D. You got to, corners got to see it. We covered two and they run flat
14:16 corner and we jump in a short route on third and long. The flat players got to
14:22 play it top down. That was a big emphasis going into the week and we didn't do
14:26 that. I think that was the second half, that first try of the second half. We let
14:30 them easy conversion, man. Make them not beat Oklahoma. So again, we'll celebrate
14:38 this win though and get back to work. We got to get better. All season long, if
14:45 this team, I think we're building a really good football team to have a chance
14:52 to have a really good year, much better year than we did a year ago. But it's
14:56 going to take consistent improvement and that's what this game's all about.
15:02 -Rae, time for one more.
15:03 -At the start of fall camp, you described injury as being on a mission. In the
15:07 context of the injuries in the past, what happened in March, what have you learned
15:12 about him even just in the last three weeks?
15:15 -He cares. It kills him not to be out there. His willingness to work and his
15:20 toughness through all of it. We got great doctors and they're being very cautious
15:27 like they should. It kills him. It's a big deal to him. You'd think it'd be a big
15:34 deal to everybody but it's not always. He's a guy that stays ready and he loves
15:40 his teammates. He celebrates his teammates' success. He's a guy that's put in a
15:45 lot from a workload standpoint.
15:48 -Rae, can you give me an update on Justin Harrelson?
15:51 -No. Maybe we'll know more here in the next few days.
15:59 -Thanks Coach.