The Oklahoma Sooners’ defense posted their first shutout of the season in a 44-0 win against Kent State on Saturday, but it still wasn’t good enough for OU head coach and defensive play-caller Brent Venables.
After dominating in a tune-up game before the Red River Rivalry and now officially preparing for unranked Texas, OU linebacker Kobie McKinzie admitted the week started with a butt chewing from Venables for him and his teammates on Monday. But that could be the reason why OU's defense continues to dominate week after week.
“We had a leadership meeting this morning, and (Venables) literally ripped us about winning 44-0 and how it wasn’t good enough,” McKinzie said. “I think a lot of places in the world and the country, it would be the total opposite, and they’d praise you on how bad you just dominated the team that you were supposed to dominate. He did the complete opposite. I mean, he literally talked about everything that was wrong. I don’t think he said one thing that was good.
"I think that’s where it starts.”
Kobie McKinzie shares why Oklahoma's defense has such high expectations
The No. 6 Sooners on Saturday not only kept a team from scoring for the first time this season, but also finally notched their first two turnovers after being the last FBS team without one. However, for Venables, it’s like grading on a curve, and that was a freshman-level course that should have been an easy A.
Venables made the correct decision this offseason of taking over the defense, and his unit has since emerged as one of the best in college football while leading the country in six major defensive categories heading into Week 7, including total defense. Although the Sooners’ offense is definitely better under new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, it’s still the defense that deserves the most credit for the Sooners’ 5-0 start and rise into the top 10.
Sooner Nation and the rest of the country have taken notice of OU’s defense, with Teddy Lehman on "The Oklahoma Breakdown with Ikard and Lehman" podcast this week even finally deeming the unit “elite.” As for inside the walls of the Barry Switzer Center, though, that elite defense still isn’t good enough.
.@TedLehman11 is finally ready to slap the "elite" label on OU's defense: pic.twitter.com/mEUckUitqK
— The Oklahoma Breakdown with Ikard and Lehman (@OK_Breakdown) October 6, 2025
“The man who’s leading us,” McKinzie said when asked how the unit stays hungry despite all the praise. “That’s been instilled in us for four years — all the guys that are truly contributing— and we just fed it into the other guys, and then once you bleed that into a program and guys believe in it, nothing is ever good enough.”