Brent Venables takes Lane Kiffin’s signal-stealing accusation as a compliment

Whether it was backhanded or not, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables took Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin’s signal-stealing accusations as a compliment.

The No. 13 Sooners will host No. 8 Ole Miss at 11 a.m. CT Saturday in Norman for a matchup between two coaches who are considered gurus on opposite sides of the ball. Although offensive-minded, Kiffin on Monday praised Venables’ elite defense, but one of the traits Kiffin mentioned was the Sooners’ ability to know the other team’s signals.

Brent Venables responds to Lane Kiffin's signal-stealing comments

“I guess coming from Lane, I take it as a compliment,” Venables said during his coaches show on Monday evening. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared, because that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless. Their detail, the time they spend above and beyond what’s required, that’s the proof of how we’re playing right now. That D-line, how they’re able to dominate physically.

“Honestly, I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled. I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled. And so between that and the helmet communication, I don’t know how that works, but we got enough to worry about just getting our guys lined up with the right call and things of that nature. But I guess I’ll take that as kind of a weird kind of compliment. Our guys must’ve looked pretty good on film.”

Entering Week 9, the Sooners lead the country in total defense while giving up just 213 yards a game. They're also second in the FBS in scoring defense, averaging just 9.43 points a game under Venables, who took over defensive play-calling duties as head coach this offseason.

Kiffin believes this OU defense could be the best the Rebels have ever faced since he’s been leading them. That was definitely a compliment, but then he also admitted why he thinks Venables’ unit is so good.

"Well, I think that's two-part," Kiffin said. "One, it's phenomenal prep -- film study of signals. I mean, you know how it is, I just tell you how it is. I think they do a great job of that. So if you study people really well, you know tendencies, and then you have enough confidence as a coach to go after those, that's what (Venables) does. It seems like they've got a really good beat on the plays that are coming when they're called. And they do a great job of going and taking those away.

“You look at the Auburn game, I told Hugh (Freeze) after their game watching it, I mean, 'You might want to switch your signals.' It looks like they have the plays. The middle safety's running down to steal slants, which is very abnormal."

Regardless, stealing signals actually isn’t illegal in college football as long as teams don’t send personnel to scout opponents ahead of time in-person or record the signals, which is what Michigan did. There’s a reason every team has people set up and ready to block signals going in for every play.

Kiffin basically outed that Venables out-coached Freeze when OU played Auburn, and now, he’s just trying to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to him.