Brent Venables reflects on ‘growing the roots’ of Oklahoma program

Oklahoma sits at 5-0 heading into the Red River Rivalry against Texas, and coach Brent Venables seems to have his squad firing on all cylinders. Can the Sooners recapture the magic of the 2023 season, perhaps even exceed it?
That remains to be seen. Venables isn’t ready to make any declarative statements just yet.
“I’m never comfortable, never have been,” he said. “I love our team. Again, ’23 we won 10 games and thought we had good momentum and then turned the ball over six times in our bowl game and lost a tough game there. And then, again, were ravaged by injuries last year.
“It’s hard to judge what kind of a team we could have been last year. Lost momentum, if you will. But proud of the fight that our guys had a year ago.”
A pair of 6-7 seasons have sandwiched that 10-3 campaign. But Oklahoma appears on the verge of leveling things out again with a breakout season.
The team is a clear College Football Playoff contender as we near the midway point of the season. Venables has seen signs his Oklahoma program is “growing the roots,” as one reporter phrased it to him.
“Certainly the defense continued to make more and more progress,” Venables said of the trying 2024 season. “But offensively weren’t able to get that side of the ball going because of the issues that we had there.”
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That hasn’t been a problem so far this year. Quarterback John Mateer and new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle have been excellent since arriving. And even though Mateer has now missed some time hurt, Oklahoma hasn’t missed a beat.
Does that mean the Sooners will ultimately get where they want this year? Again, Venables isn’t one to make any definitive statements yet. But he’s happy with the progress.
“It’s hard to say. I don’t know,” he said. “Really that’s for everybody else to write. I like this team. I like where we’re at right now. I’ve got an excellent staff and tremendous leadership in our locker room. Guys that, again, I’ve been bragging on for a while, both sides of the ball. Upwards of 16 players that this is Year 4 for them.
“I think we’re a benefactor of that leadership and the experience and the improvements that we’ve made, the development that we’ve shown here in the program has been good here this year. Where all that stands is for everybody else, but I feel really good about where we’re at right now.”