Brent Venables Cincinnati Postgame Interview 9-23-23

Allsooners
Allsooners
  • last year
Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables speaks to the media following the Sooners' 20-6 victory over Cincinnati.
Transcript
00:00 The guys, man, they started really well.
00:05 First, obviously, first drive,
00:08 and gave up a field goal the second drive,
00:10 but then we go punt, punt, I think punt, punt,
00:14 then interception, then another punt,
00:16 and then they missed a field goal there,
00:19 right there at the half, and then came out again.
00:21 First drive, second half defensively,
00:25 and Nickel and Diamond, I think their longest drive
00:27 on the day was 55 yards,
00:29 they 12 play and really made 'em work,
00:32 and they end up getting a field goal,
00:33 and then we go three straight drives of turnover on downs,
00:38 and again, it was a 55 play drive, 49 yard drive,
00:42 a 26 yard drive, where they're threatening,
00:46 but guys just buckle down.
00:49 I love the belief, and it takes courage
00:53 to keep going out there, and things are still tight,
00:59 and we talk about that a lot going into the week,
01:03 that there's gonna be opposition,
01:06 there's gonna be real adversity
01:08 throughout the course of the season,
01:10 and we've had two of the three weeks
01:14 with not a whole lot of pushback,
01:16 and obviously today we did,
01:19 and there's a reason Cincinnati has been
01:24 incredibly difficult to beat over the last,
01:28 whatever that has been, a four year span,
01:29 where they, I think today was their third loss.
01:32 Didn't wanna promote that a whole lot,
01:34 but we did talk about it a few times during the week,
01:38 how challenging it was gonna be,
01:40 and what a beautiful day for football,
01:42 our fans were amazing on the road,
01:44 and they were right behind our bench,
01:46 and our players fed off of them a lot,
01:48 and it helps, everything helps,
01:52 but I liked how we complimented each other
01:54 at the right times, and things were hard sometimes,
01:57 we got it in our own way,
01:59 we had a couple of third downs offensively
02:02 that we converted, that we had to give back,
02:07 because of penalties, I think we had a shift,
02:09 and maybe a holding penalty there right at the end
02:14 that would have prevented them from getting one last drive,
02:17 but Zach Schmidt nailed a couple of good field goals,
02:23 I think it was 10-3, 10-3, both halves,
02:27 and that's how you build a team,
02:29 again, like I said, there's lots of different ways to win,
02:32 proud of our guys' effort,
02:35 both sides of the ball to continue to fight and compete,
02:41 offense came out, and they had four drives
02:45 where we scored, and one of the field goal drives
02:48 was a 12-play, 72-yard drive,
02:50 and there's a couple of plays there
02:52 that we'd like to get back, we can't,
02:54 but okay, what do we gotta do to fix that,
02:58 and then we had a nine-play, 67-yard drive there,
03:01 again, we had to settle four field goals,
03:03 so we'll work on the efficiency and the execution,
03:06 there's plenty of mistakes, lots to fix,
03:10 I love to win and gotta still fix a lot of stuff,
03:15 and, but I love the competitiveness of the football team,
03:21 and the three-stranded cord is hard to break,
03:26 and Dylan, again, passed over 300 yards,
03:31 and had some good, tough running at times,
03:34 and again, offensively, third downs and fourth downs
03:38 were pretty good overall, and again, like I said,
03:40 we missed on a couple of opportunities
03:43 'cause of some penalties,
03:45 and then defensively, outstanding,
03:48 I think they were four of maybe 19 on third and fourth downs
03:52 and, oh my gosh, that was, you know,
03:56 just making plays, guys, just, man,
03:59 it was fun to watch, fun to watch those guys.
04:01 Danny Stutzman had 13 tackles,
04:03 and Jaron Kanick, he got hit in the chest,
04:07 and early results or things seemed to,
04:11 he'll be okay, we had him checked out locally here,
04:15 and hopefully everything will continue to check out,
04:18 but, and then we got some guys in there,
04:23 again, we had R. Mason Thomas, Justin Harrington,
04:26 Reggie Pearson, you know, didn't make the trip,
04:29 and Savion Bird, but guys stepped up, you know,
04:34 and through all the, you know,
04:38 there's good and bad in all of it,
04:39 but, you know, there'll be a lot of opportunity
04:42 to teach and learn and correct.
04:44 How about Andrew L. Anthony and some of the big plays he made?
04:46 Really, again, big, what was his numbers for the day?
04:51 Anybody know? Here we go.
04:52 Anthony had, yeah, seven for one, 17,
04:57 17 yards after the catch, you know, catching and running.
05:00 Drake had 36 yards, you know, yards after the catch,
05:04 and Jalil, you know, had one tough drop,
05:07 but he, again, had 32 yards after the catch
05:11 and catching it and getting vertical,
05:12 so, again, Andrew L's smooth and reliable.
05:17 He had a 50-yarder, had eight catches,
05:19 and he was really good, but, again,
05:23 just a lot to get better from, a lot to improve on.
05:27 We accomplished our goal.
05:28 We knew it was going to be hard coming here,
05:30 and what was the final, 26?
05:35 Won by a couple scores, and everybody feels, again,
05:39 you know, we really felt like, you know,
05:42 we could have slammed the door earlier in the game,
05:45 but, again, give Cincinnati and their staff,
05:47 their players credit.
05:48 They kept battling and making plays, too.
05:51 You know, that's part of it. It goes both sides.
05:53 Thanks, Coach. Yep.
05:54 Brent, on defense today, you know,
05:57 you bent, but you didn't break.
05:59 You had a lot of stuff overall,
06:01 but a really good defensive day.
06:02 What did you think of it?
06:04 Yeah, I thought it was a great day, you know.
06:06 I don't look at bend and break.
06:07 I don't ever, you know, I don't.
06:10 They're going to make some plays, and, you know,
06:14 I don't look at bend and break.
06:15 They're going to make some plays,
06:17 but we made, you know, the ones that we needed to
06:19 in critical situations.
06:21 Had a couple of picks, and, again, efficiency,
06:26 and you look at the areas where a year ago,
06:28 we weren't very good.
06:30 You know, we let people score touchdowns,
06:32 and they got in the red zone, and so, you know,
06:37 today was an outstanding effort in those areas,
06:40 third and fourth down, and red zone stops.
06:43 You know, our guys were fantastic.
06:46 Brady, you talked about all that stuff you talked about,
06:48 but how big a role did the linebackers
06:50 in Virginia play?
06:52 Yeah, they were good.
06:53 Yeah, they thought they were great.
06:55 They were downhill, and, you know,
06:57 I think they averaged under four yards a carry.
06:59 They were top 10, 12 team rushing in the country,
07:03 and I felt, personally, we gave up so many opportunities.
07:08 We had some sloppy tackling late,
07:09 but we got blocked on the second level when we shouldn't,
07:14 and so some opportunity to get better there
07:17 that allowed them to have some 10, 12, 15-yard runs
07:22 that get them going on a drive,
07:24 and we can't do that at all,
07:28 and so we got to get better there in our run defense,
07:32 even though, again, on the day,
07:35 I think it might have been -- what was it on the day?
07:37 Three and a half yards a carry or so.
07:40 They were under, I think, under five yards a play,
07:43 and, you know, but, again, you know,
07:48 red zone and third and fourth downs,
07:50 our guys were outstanding.
07:51 Those linebackers, they did a great job.
07:53 We played, you know, both Peyton and Dasson
07:58 and Kendall Dolby, you know, at the cheetah position today,
08:03 and thought they did a pretty good job.
08:05 It's only been four games or three games.
08:07 You've only given up four games,
08:09 three touchdown drives, eight points a game.
08:12 Are you comfortable with the word "dominant" being used?
08:14 No, no, no, and I'm just -- it's all relative, you know.
08:20 Our guys have been really solid and getting better
08:24 and really proud of their work and their commitment
08:27 and, you know, their willingness to go and practice
08:31 the right way and watch film and those types of things,
08:34 but our guys know we're nowhere close.
08:37 If we were close to being --
08:43 again, dominant means that you're playing close
08:45 to perfection, you know, somewhere like --
08:48 somewhere close, and I don't feel like we are.
08:51 There's lots of ways, lots of places
08:53 that we got to get better, you know, up front,
08:56 all three levels, you know, our coverage and our run fits
09:00 and our pressure packages, just we do, and our guys know it.
09:07 You know, I don't have to tell them.
09:08 They know, you know, and that's --
09:10 they're very knowledgeable.
09:12 You know, our football IQ right now is really strong,
09:16 so when we do make some mistakes,
09:17 guys immediately know,
09:20 and we're taking the right accountability
09:22 that you have to learn -- that you have to have to learn
09:24 and grow and improve and get better,
09:26 and this game is a humbling game,
09:28 and so having respect, you know, for the game
09:32 and great self-awareness is all part of becoming
09:36 the kind of defense that, you know,
09:37 we're capable of becoming,
09:39 but we're not anywhere close to what we're capable of yet,
09:42 but the effort's there, the work's there,
09:45 the commitment's there, and that makes it a lot of fun
09:47 as a coach when guys, you know, have that humility
09:51 and the willingness to work.
09:53 Brandon, in terms of defending the mobile quarterback,
09:56 you know, what were some of the things you tried to hammer home
09:58 with the players in practice this week,
09:59 and then did you see those things translate today?
10:01 Pretty good.
10:03 Again, we had a couple of missed tackles on him.
10:04 You know, the one scramble on third and 19,
10:08 I got to look and see what happened.
10:09 Somebody missed him, you know, we're in the backfield,
10:12 and he's a good, strong guy,
10:14 and I think he had 42 net yards,
10:17 2.8 average on 15 carries,
10:19 but we missed him a couple of times.
10:23 You know, we were a little bit soft.
10:25 Going to cage him, just use the right kind of techniques,
10:27 everybody, whether you're rushing four,
10:29 you're rushing six, or, you know,
10:33 twisting and all those things,
10:34 we got to not get stuck on blocks,
10:36 and because guys like him can buy time
10:39 and slip through cracks, very small creases,
10:41 and so it was pretty good, you know, on the day,
10:44 and critical in some really critical situations,
10:48 it was at its -- we were at our best,
10:50 and so I thought it was pretty good,
10:54 and I think it was just about 50%, a little over 50%,
10:59 so we gave up a couple of, you know,
11:02 screening goes there on the sideline that we can't do
11:05 that, again, got him into some, you know,
11:08 tough situations there for us,
11:11 but overall, I thought it was pretty solid,
11:16 you know, containing him.
11:18 Brent, Keen's described his comfort in the defense
11:21 as taking straight here.
11:22 Are there many better examples than him
11:24 of what those returners,
11:26 guys who've been here two years, are finding now?
11:28 He's made great improvement, and he's matured a great deal.
11:32 He's always been an incredibly likable guy,
11:35 and from a competitive standpoint
11:39 and a leadership standpoint,
11:41 and being inside out is where I've seen the most growth.
11:45 His knowledge base has certainly improved.
11:47 His fundamentals have improved.
11:50 He's become a really good leader and great teammate.
11:54 He lets you coach him hard,
11:56 and he's really made a lot of improvement, a lot of growth,
12:01 so he is an example of those returners,
12:05 you know, playing even better, you know, Danny, him,
12:11 you know, Coe, Jordan Kelly, Ethan Downs, Marcus Stripling,
12:19 you know, all those freshmen that a year ago,
12:21 they were true freshmen, Billy Bowman,
12:25 a bunch of them have really just made a lot of leaps and bounds,
12:27 but they put in the work,
12:29 and they've really committed a lot of time on their own.
12:32 Brent, you're pretty sure you're going to want to get
12:34 Brent Moore out of the run game moving forward,
12:36 but the value of what you've got on the 75-yard drive,
12:40 especially for Marcus, after they pulled in 10-6,
12:43 that's a ticket for what you'd like to see
12:46 in terms of balance on that team.
12:47 Yeah, no doubt, and we're going to see
12:50 all different kinds of challenges all year,
12:53 and people are going to, you know,
12:55 everybody's going to load the box at times,
12:57 and other times they're going to play a light box,
12:59 and you've got to make them pay when they do,
13:01 and we've still got to be able to run the ball effectively,
13:04 you know, when they do load the box.
13:05 That's all part of it, so physicality and precision
13:08 and some of our schemes, everything matters,
13:11 and, you know, we've got to continue to get better
13:13 in every part of our program,
13:15 and that's certainly an area that we want to continue
13:18 to improve as well.
13:19 [Indistinct talking]
13:21 Yeah, close to maybe 30 guys.
13:31 I have to look back, and I wish we could have played a few more.
13:34 We are.
13:35 We've got more guys that are capable of playing,
13:36 a few guys didn't get in
13:38 that are definitely capable of playing.
13:42 Coaches are their own worst enemy sometimes.
13:43 You're afraid of your own shadow,
13:47 and so we've got to be a little better,
13:49 but guys stepped up,
13:51 and a lot of guys have made plays today,
13:56 and that's what we need to continue to do
13:59 to develop our team.
14:00 We need the competitive depth to be able to play
14:03 and improve, grow, get better,
14:06 and then again, that's good for your morale,
14:10 you know, which is really important to me.
14:13 Brett, what did you think of Dylan's addition
14:15 to the run game today?
14:17 Yeah.
14:18 He had the thumb all up the middle line,
14:19 and then he also had a touchdown where he had to
14:20 plow over somebody, but it just looked like
14:21 an additional weapon.
14:23 Yeah, no, I thought again he, a couple of the times,
14:26 one on the keeper that he, you know,
14:29 kind of plowed through there and fell into the end zone,
14:32 and then he had a speed option, was a nice one,
14:34 and then on the four-minute drill
14:37 with the QB draw was excellent,
14:40 and we've got to learn to protect the ball there,
14:43 can't expose it, know when to go down,
14:44 but again, he had positive yards in rushing,
14:48 and those extend drives, and he's shown the propensity,
14:52 you know, to extend plays and find guys open,
14:55 and today we had some design plays
14:57 that I thought he did a really nice job
15:00 that really helped in some critical situations.
15:02 Was that a matchup necessary,
15:03 or was that necessary because of the matchups inside?
15:06 I think it's always good to have that.
15:08 It's good at every level of football
15:10 to have a guy that can do that.
15:12 That's what we call a plus-one run game.
15:15 You know, it's like, "Oh, now what are you going to do?"
15:18 And there are stuff that you can do,
15:21 but you have to have schematically things
15:24 designed just the right way,
15:26 that depends on the scheme, to account for it,
15:30 and not an easy thing to do when you want to play.
15:33 We've got lots of playmakers that can really strain you,
15:36 that sometimes those schemes that are designed
15:39 to stop the quarterback running aren't near as good
15:42 at stopping the passing game.
15:44 You're vulnerable there, so that strike and that balance
15:49 is hard on the defense,
15:50 but when a quarterback can do that, it drives you crazy.
15:56 Brent, how hard is the passing or parents' call
15:58 in the game today?
15:59 It seemed like there was a few today,
16:01 I mean, I know the one on Gentry,
16:03 you were maybe upset about,
16:04 and then there was one that wasn't called
16:06 on the group play in the game.
16:07 How hard is that at all?
16:08 Yeah, I mean, again, I'm limited in things that I can say,
16:12 but those are critical,
16:14 and they got a field goal on Gentry's,
16:18 and we weren't able to score on that drive.
16:24 You're referring to Farouk there in the end zone.
16:27 So, replay, we're going to go look at it.
16:35 Maybe what we thought was obvious isn't the case,
16:38 and then maybe sometimes, listen,
16:39 you got a human element, and sometimes we miss it.
16:42 So, anyway, I don't know what that looks like,
16:46 but those are big plays in a two-score game.
16:49 Greg, last question.
16:51 Phil, position today.
16:53 And I thought Gentry shouldn't have let the guy get behind him.
16:56 I want to call, he shouldn't have let the guy get behind him.
16:58 Then he did a great job of getting his head back,
17:00 I thought, and that's what they'll tell you every time.
17:04 He's trying to make a play on the ball.
17:05 That's what I was told with Jalil,
17:08 and that's what Gentry was trying to do,
17:10 make a play on the ball.
17:12 So.
17:13 Phil, position early in the game,
17:14 especially when the time was good.
17:16 You had to overcome that early,
17:18 and when you finally get ahead of it,
17:19 then you start getting a better advantage of offense.
17:23 Yeah, Cincinnati, the first half,
17:28 they averaged at the 30,
17:30 and the second half, they averaged their own 22,
17:34 and we averaged the 18 in the first half,
17:37 and 27 in the second half to their 22.
17:40 So, it's funny how just smallest difference makes a,
17:44 smallest margin makes a huge difference.
17:47 I think we were 22 for the game, they were 27.
17:49 So, we didn't win that battle today.
17:54 And that's a big deal.
17:57 It's one of the top five statistics.
18:00 You look at the analytics, field position's
18:02 one of the top five analytics in determining,
18:06 you know, winning and losing.
18:08 So, it's a really important part.
18:10 We, again, had a couple of points we'd like to get back,
18:13 you know, didn't really hit, and then,
18:16 and then again, you know, we, to me, defensively,
18:23 you know, we let them make a couple first downs
18:25 and a few of those drives, not the bend defense,
18:27 but, you know, we got to be a little better
18:31 and sharper there.
18:35 Yeah.
18:37 - Thank you very much.