One of the major reasons Brent Venables was the popular choice to replace Lincoln Riley as the 23rd head coach in Oklahoma football history was because of how dreadfully bad the Sooner defense had become on Riley's watch.
While Venables may be under some fire for not winning enough games by historical Oklahoma standards in his three seasons as head coach, you can certainly check the box "job well done" concerning the defense and the improvement from what it was when Venables arrived back on the scene in Norman in December 2021.
Sooners' defense shows obvious improvement under Brent Venables
The much-maligned Oklahoma defense has gotten a little better every season under Venables' scrutinizing eye. Along with the defensive assistants he has assembled and an influx of defensive talent that had not been the recruiting emphasis previously, Venables and his staff have over the past couple of years put together a defense that the university and fan base can once again be proud of.
The 2025 edition of Oklahoma football is the best and most balance offensively and defensively of Venables' four seasons as head coach, and easily the most complete defensive unit. The Sooners' defensive performance through the first three games of the season clearly bears that out.
Through three games, all OU wins, the Sooners lead the SEC in most all of the major defensive statistical categories and rank in the top five nationally in several. Oklahoma ranks No. 4 among FBS teams in total defense (181 yards allowed per game), No. 2 in pass defense (an average of 84.7 passing yards allowed) and No. 34 in rush defense (96.3 yards allowed).
The Sooner defense is No. 4 nationally in scoring, giving up 19 points total, while allowing just one touchdown and an average of 6.3 points per game. OU is also among the nation's best teams in third-down conversion defense, ranked fourth, allowing opponents just seven of 41 successful third-down tries. Being able to get off the field and turn the ball over to the offense is one of the chief components of an outstanding defense.
"I think they've answered the challenge," Venables said during his weekly press conference ahead of last week's game at Temple. "What I appreciate is the volume of work that this defense has committed to -- both what's required and what's not required. And I've said many times, what's required is not enough. These guys have been willing to do more than what's required over a long period of time."
Venables' reputation as one of college football's best defensive minds began at Oklahoma after he joined Bob Stoops' OU coaching staff in 1999. The Sooners had some outstanding defensive teams while Venables was at Oklahoma. He left Norman after the 2011 season to take the defensive coordinator position at Clemson, where he built one of the best defensive units in all of college football and was a part of two national championships.
There is still a long way to go in the 2025 season, and this Oklahoma defense, as good as it is, will surely be tested by some of the country's strongest offenses as it works it way through an extremely difficult conference schedule featuring as many as eight ranked teams. We won't know how that works out until the games are played.
One thing we do know for sure, however, is this Oklahoma defense is for real and will be ready and pose an equal and opposite challenge against every opponent offense it goes up against the rest of the way.
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