Brent Venables: ‘Hopefully this is the shot in the arm that we need’
By Chip Rouse
For the first time in nearly a month, Oklahoma football head coach Brent Venables was actually excited about getting to the postgame interview session with the media.
It wasn’t as if the Sooners had erased all the troubles that have suddenly and sadly reversed the course of the program and have had everybody connected with OU football scratching their collective heads over the uncharacteristically awful performances of the past couple of weeks. But at least the positives outweighed the negatives on Saturday and that is something that could not be said about the previous two games.
The return of Dillon Gabriel at quarterback provided the spark that had been missing in Oklahoma’s offense the past two weeks. Gabriel was knocked out of the game with TCU midway through the second quarter and missed the next game against the Sooners’ biggest rival Texas. In the seven quarters he was out of action, Oklahoma scored a total of 14 points. On Saturday against Kansas, the Sooners put a season-high 52 points on the scoreboard.
"“Dillon (OU QB Gabriel) makes a big difference, as you saw today,” Venables said. “Having missed him for the last seven quarters makes a big difference with the flow of your whole team, not just the offense.”"
The first-year Sooner head coach told reporters that he was really happy for the guys on the team that they can experience a victory again,” especially after all the hard work they’ve been putting in during the week. In his weekly press conferences the past couple of weeks, Venables has made the point that it is extremely difficult not to see the reward from all the hard work and physical and mental preparation that is put in every single week to get ready for the next game.
You can only imagine how deflating it has been for the OU players and coaches. To lose is one thing. Nobody enjoys losing. But the way the Sooners have been losing games is something that an Oklahoma football team has rarely experienced.
Saturday’s win over a much-improved and very good Kansas football team was somewhat of a return to normalcy, but it represents just one game on an incredibly challenging road ahead this season.
"“I’ll take any victory we can get right now,” Venables said, “and will take any little victories. Hopefully this is the shot in the arm that we need.”"
The work and commitment of the Sooner coaches and players has been there all along. Unfortunately, it just hasn’t translated to the field on game day.
"“We have to get our guys better, put them in a position to be successful and learn the value of playing with discipline consistently. Today was a little better that way.”"
Everybody saw how impressive the Sooner offense looked against Kansas, the best it has performed since the win at Nebraska in Week 3. You don’t produce 701 yards of offense it a lot of things aren’t going right. The fact that OU played a little better on defense — although allowing 42 points is not an acceptable outcome — obviously helped as well.
“Today, just getting 11 guys on the same page and playing in sync and together — that’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Venables said.
Oklahoma has a much-needed bye week this week before returning to action on Oct. 29 at Iowa State. The Sooners hope to build off of the momentum gained from the win over Kansas, get rested, renewed and more healthy over the next 12 days and come back even stronger for the final stretch of the season.