Sooners HC Brent Venables is ‘disgusted’ with what’s yet to happen in 2025 that happened 21 times in 2024
Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners defense have yet to create a turnover or have a takeaway.
The Oklahoma Sooners have the best defense in the country, and there really isn’t a debate. They had one of the best defenses in the country last year, and this year it’s even better, as you can clearly tell when you watch them play together. Head coach Brent Venables calling the defense this year has been fun to watch.
But, somehow, a defense that had 21 takeaways last year hasn’t created a turnover yet this year. Venables let everyone know that it’s “disgusting,” that they haven’t done that yet. But you have to feel like that will come soon.
“We have been preaching it,” Venables told reporters. “We start every practice with a turnover circuit. They will come. If we were getting our brains beaten in and we didn’t have any turnovers, I wouldn’t like any of it. But we do have to do a better job, because that’s going to be a really important part as we jump into SEC play. The last three years coming into this year, we have been a really efficient defense when it comes to creating turnovers. We just need to continue to hang in there. They will come.”
Sooners have as good a chance as ever to create first turnover vs. Auburn
If you watched Oklahoma football last year, you likely saw Jackson Arnold play. He had his moments, but most of those moments came in non-conference play. The bad moments all came in SEC play, including when the Sooners first benched Arnold for an entire game against the Auburn Tigers last year. He was benched in the game before, but he still started that game. Against the Tigers was his first non-start of 2024. Arnold was turnover-prone, whether it was throwing interceptions or fumbling the ball. It wasn’t all his fault, though.
Arnold only threw three interceptions, but he lost five fumbles, which are just as bad, if not worse, because that means the defense scooped the ball up wherever Arnold was, which is usually closer to their touchdown than an interception would be. The kicker here is that he only started in nine total games, which means he had eight total turnovers in nine games started – that’s not good.
So, on Saturday, the Sooners do have a good chance at forcing a turnover. However, it is definitely worth noting that Arnold has been much better at protecting the ball this year than he was last year, as he enters this game with zero turnovers. That doesn’t mean that he can’t be stripped on a sack, or that he can’t throw an interception because of how badly he is being pressured all game long.
There are people out there who think this is the same exact game as the Tennessee Volunteers game last year for Arnold and OU, where everyone felt great about the Sooners, and then they played Tennessee, and Arnold was benched. Right now, everyone feels pretty good about Auburn, that is, until they play a real team like the Sooners. On Saturday, you can expect the defense to play with extra motivation.
Oklahoma Sooners News
Oklahoma Sooners’ important decision before facing the Auburn Tigers has now backfired in their face
Bent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners tried to appeal the suspension of R Mason Thomas.
