COLUMN: Brent Venables Describes Oklahoma’s Process, How He’ll Make Improvements

NORMAN — The weekly regimented structure of college football must be adhered to.

But when a team is struggling, change might be necessary to that structure, or the process by which that structure is followed.

After escaping Houston 16-12 on Saturday night, coach Brent Venables said he and his coaching staff will “go back and reevaluate a lot of things.”

At his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Sooners On SI asked Venables what kinds of changes, or reevaluations, he would have in mind this week as the No. 15-ranked Sooners prepare to take on Tulane.

His answer was direct: Oklahoma players can expect more physical, more competitive practices moving forward — meaning, as Venables said, “more good on good.”

“It’s going to bring out the best in you,” Venables said, “competitiveness, fundamentals, things that you can coach and teach and correct off of tape when you’re going against good people. 

“So the flip side of that is, guys get really competitive and … you’re a little more vulnerable to getting banged up, potentially.”

So Venables now finds himself in a conundrum: the team needs to practice harder to get better, but the team is already racked by injuries. It’s a risky balance he must find as the schedule will only get harder and harder.

“That’s how you get better,” Venables said. “I don’t know any other way. You can’t practice soft and play hard.”

Venables proudly pointed out that the Sooners rank tied for first in the nation in red zone scoring percentage (seven TDs on eight trips) and lead major college football in turnover margin (plus-3.50 per game). He also said OU leads the nation in field position thanks to an elite punter, good kickoff man quality coverage teams and a stingy defense.

But there are areas across the board on offense where Oklahoma is lagging — 108th nationally in total offense, 109th in passing offense, and 131st in third-down conversion percentage.

That last one ranks almost last in the country, ahead of Kent State and Jacksonville State.

So Venables will order more good-on-good work in practice. That’ll probably come in small-sided offensive line versus defensive line sessions, as well as more one-on-ones for receivers and defensive backs, and maybe some more live tackling. Maybe it’ll even result in a little more live scrimmaging during the week.

But, he added, improvements for this team will come in the form of more than just the Oklahoma Drill or scrimmages. A new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, a new special teams coordinator, a new in-helmet communications system, a new methodology of presenting real-time sideline information with tablets, a new quarterback, a new offensive line — there are built-in hurdles that need to be figured out before they can be cleared.

“Some of it, you know, how we get into our plays on the call sheet?” Venables said. “Not trying to fit a score peg through the round circle. Or, again, get better at the at the basics. How do we execute this play? Things that we really believe in that have been good for us for a long time — how do we get better at it? And again, to me, you get better at it by doing it over and over and over until you can’t get it wrong. That’s what practice is all about.

“We’ve got to be more precise, and I we’ve got to take good angles. And when we’re position and tackle, use the right techniques to get them down, and gotta have really good eyes.

“Just continue to develop the discipline for it. And every week is a challenge of its own, because the presentations are different. So training your eyes is critical. And then there’s fundamentals and techniques that go along with every call you have.”

While the offense is struggling, the OU defense has shown signs of greatness. At Oklahoma, it’s been the other way around for going on 15 years — particularly since 2009, when the defense was elite behind All-American d-tackle Gerald McCoy and the offense struggled behind redshirt freshman quarterback Landry Jones and a rebuilt offensive line.

So Venables has literally been down this path before, though he was the defensive coordinator then, not the head coach.

“If you go outside of our football building,” he said, “I’m sure there’s a lot of divisiveness.

“So my job is to constantly nurture the right perspective. And again, the direction that we’ve got to go to improve: Keep your head down. Don’t get distracted. Make it about the basics. Got to get better. … You only gain confidence through executing the right way of practice. You know, doing the fundamentals and the basics really well over and over and over and over. 

“And that’s got to be your foundation. And so we’ve got to be good teachers. We’ve got to have a great plan, as far as that development piece during the course of the week. And we get 20 hours (a week) to get them ready and get them better.”