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Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables Kent State Post Game Press Conference · Sooner or Later Sports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, we got the five and zero and found
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: out a little more about our guys. It was a good,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: mature win. Guys handled the business a little bit different
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: kind of a game because of the field position some
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of the turnovers there that created short fields for our offense.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Thought Mike did a lot of great things and again
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: had three touchdowns and added on to we were one
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: hundred percent in the red zone scoring three touchdowns, got
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: our first five drives. We scored on all five drives.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: A lot to learn from the ones that we had
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to settle for field goals. Great job by Tate Sandel
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: with the three field goals in the first half, really
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and he's been just been fantastic. I think he had
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the fourth longest field goal in stadium history. Again, nine
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: different guys caught up balls and we were over fifty
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: third third downs.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Great job.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: By the offense. Did a great job on defense, just
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: being disruptive again, playing really good run game and five sacks,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: thirteen tackles for loss under twenty percent on third and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: fourth downs.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Really good job there.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Grayceon Miller was great again, had two inside the ten
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: yard line or in twenty yard line and one at
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the one got our first couple of turnovers, so we're
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: on our way minus four on the season.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: So that was great.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Good defense there coming out, and Dustagan did a great job.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Ninety seven punt return yards. I think that's the most
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: that we've had as a punt return yards in the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: game since twenty twelve. So fantastic job by Isaiah as well.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I really liked being able to celebrate with the guys.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You know, R Mason Thomas as a career high six
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: six tackles and you know, some of the tackles for loss, sacked,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: those kind of things, but just mature, you know, to
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: show up and play to and compete to a standard
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: regardless of who we're playing or how the game's going.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: And I just really appreciate that about our guys. Certainly
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: wasn't perfect. You want things to coach from off the tape,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and but that we did what we needed to do
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: handle business. Isaiah Setanna Again, the initial evaluation, uh was
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: was good promising, and I think the latest scans were
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: good uh as well, But man, what a scary thing
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: for him and so uh hopefully he'll be okay uh
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: long term here, but uh yeah, just overall, again a
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: really good day.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Uh, as we know, you know.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: There's been several people around the country and kind of
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: sleep walk through those games, and you just have an
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: appreciation for our guys to strain all the work that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: they put in here the last week and a half,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to continue to build rhythm, develop, confidence improved, be relentless
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: to improve. Uh you all the incremental ways that the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: season will bring. So going down to Dallas next week,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: second SEC game and uh, a big game like it
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: always is, has been for one hundred years, and the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: emotion that goes into that game, the intensity and the environment.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It's a great setting. Uh, one of the coolest environments
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you can have an opportunity to play and compete in.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: This year will be no different. Our guys are looking
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: forward to that challenge. And with the work and the preparation,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you know that it's got to go into another wait
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: another week you know of you know, and the challenges
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of what uh you know, I'm sitting in front of
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: us with Texas, so something I know our guys will
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: be looking forward to. If you go to Dallas and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Materia can't play, how do you feel about Hawkins.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: In that ye?
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm assuming he can't you know, again he's
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: had some experience playing in there last year, and uh,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: really the mindset is no different was it was going
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: into today. Again, We've we need to play well in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the areas that we are in control, taking care of
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the ball, you know, making layups when they're there, not
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: try to do too much. You know, we've got to
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: against some of all of our parts as a football
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: team to compliment you know, one another. And uh, but
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I feel great about Mike.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Do you think we were running game the running game
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: tonight and did not?
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good to see him get out there, Tori.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: He had some really good tough runs as well. I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: thought those guys, uh and and also in conjunction with
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: you know, the quarterback some of the quarterback run game
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: and the zone read and pulling it and that kind
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of thing with and Mike both had a couple of
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: really good runs. I thought those guys ran with good
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: pace and strength, power, run through some trash, and good acceleration,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: good instincts running the ball. So again, keep it all
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: in perspective, but a good day, you know, rush for
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: just under two hundred yards and they're again there have
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a loaded box. So but we did what we needed
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to do and some good things to teach from, you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: off of tape. How did you feel Mike controlled the offense,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: ran the offense today?
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Like I said, first five drives, scored all five drives again,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: two touchdowns, three field goals, and you know, anxious to
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: look at the tape and see what you can learn
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: from off of that tape to stay in the rhythm.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: What happened, how those drives stall? Uh, and again come
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: out the second half and I think maybe overall we
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: scored another a couple of times, you know they're they're
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: in the second half, not including the defense. And again overall,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: again did what we needed to do, and I made
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: plays when we needed to. And again there'll be plenty
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to learn from you know first, you know, start of
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the season and really extensive time.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Anxious to get into the in the film room and
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: see what we can learns.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Into the wall there.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: You ran over there pretty quickly. You don't always say
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a head coach do that?
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Were you was your level of concern as high as
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: it's been for a guy, And were you able to
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: talk to him when when.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: You were Yeah, he was he was alert, he was
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: in some pain, uh in his back and getting into
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: all the details, but yeah, I mean he was going
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: full speed and uh.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: You know, ran into the wall. So no, you dang right.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I was very concerned, and uh I'm thankful you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: once they got over there, realized based on the things
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: that questions he was answering was very coherent and yeah,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm my head's fine, you know, my legs
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: are fine. I'm just again, it's kind of like probably
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: being in a car wreck. I would guess. I haven't
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: seen the video of it, but uh, you know, I
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: was thankful because it seemed it appeared that all things considered,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: he would was okay.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Brent, what did you think.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: About Eli's performance today?
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Getting back at just how important was that?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I didn't see him be a victim of anything.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't like so and I only say that because
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: you know, he didn't hit a whole lot of action,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and there were some things to learn from. There was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a three D and they ran a curl and an
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: over oute and he's got to keep zoning it off,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: have big vision. Uh And uh so that was the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: one I'd say, hey, man, you gotta I'd give you
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: a minus on this one, but overall great to have
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: him back out there. Great to have Giovanni back out there,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and there was a heck of a lot more good
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: than not because of that. And uh but he's been
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: practicing very well, just just like he has me. He's
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: very he's ultra consistent, he's detailed, he's ready, he's his
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: readiness is as good as.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Anybody in the locker room.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, good to have him back with
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: that group of guys Britain.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Texas gave up. I believe six sacks tonight, even though
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Florida rings. I believe in the one thirty's in the
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: sacks of per game. I'm just wondering, how confident are
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: you ahead of facing this Texas offense.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know anything about Texas right now. I
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: know about our guys in a locker room. I'm excited
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: to go down to Dallas with them, but uh, you know,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: havn't spend you know, very much time at all on
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: you know, the preparation and things like that. Every every
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: team in college football got problems and uh, you know,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: so whatever those are, you know, I'm worried about what
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: what our problems are and where we need to get better.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: When you have a guy like Jay and I who
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: hasn't had the start of the season that he probably
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: wanted here, what does it say about him to I guess,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: stay invested and perform the way he does.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean for and I say this to the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: guys all the time. Doesn't matter what's taking place, good
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: or bad. You know, in the past, yesterday, literally just
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: a few days ago, it's all that matters. What you
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: do today end up moving forward. So you got to
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: you got to die to the good. You got to
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: die to the bad. And when you die, you win.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: You're getting better and and that needs to be the focus.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Learned from the you know, getting cut and uh, you know,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: mistake or bad moments, things of that nature. And maybe
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I haven't had my opportunity whatever that that is. Nobody
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: wants to hear it. Nobody feels bad for you. Alls
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the matter what you do now. It was good to
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: see him out there and doing some things. And again
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: what we've said answering some of the questions earlier this week, Man,
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: he's he's looked good over the bye week, and he's
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: got into a nice rhythm. He's run with some power
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and some confidence. And it's taken him a little longer,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: but man, it's right on time.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Frit As you moved back to see played.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: What kind of a DIES tape be coming for you guys?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Talked about a feedo pump prosession legal. Yeah, tremendous.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: You know, you you you know, you need those guys
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: to be able to perform, you know, and be reliable
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and dependable. The teams that we're going to play, you know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: they're uh, you know, gonna score touchdowns all the time.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: So from a timeliness standpoint, a readiness standpoint, and ability
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: to execute, it makes a huge difference.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: We know that.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: And uh so, man, he's been he's been great. And
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: our on a game or field goal overall in the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: season has been fantastic and we're gonna have to lean
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: on that at times.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: When you got here tonight, you said you found out
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: a little bit more about your guys.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: What specifically do you think?
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I think, Yeah, number one is just maturity to again
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: show up, play with passion, energy, intensity, detail, physicality. Uh
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: be excited to play, celebrate the success. You know, this
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: is still a game of doing. This is a game
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: of performance. This is a game of if we are
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: who we say we are, then it's about standards and
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: play it. We play and compete and show up a
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: certain way to this stadium. You don't play to an
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: opponent or scoreboard, a jersey, at time, a temperature. You
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: show up and play and compete, you know, to a performance.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: That's all anybody here wants to see. That's all any
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: of us coaches you don't want to see. And uh,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and you can't cheat this game. There is one way,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the right way, the hard way. There aren't no shortcuts
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to how how you win and again and winning and again.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Off we had a shut out and there was there
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was nothing easy about it. There was some moments where
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: it was easier, but there's nothing easy about winning and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: being successful. And and when our guys grab onto that,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: I think that you can have a performance you know,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: like you had today, has nothing to do with the opponents.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Just the cleanliness, the readiness, the detail. And uh, and
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: again we're gonna get a lot more pushback and we're
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: gonna have a lot more challenges. We know that, and
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: but it's all relative to the team that you're lining
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: up against. And again, uh, you know the the things
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that I just talked about, you know, the the investment
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: that it takes to win and be successful week in
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: and week.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Out, guys like and Marcus Strong. Yeah, it was great.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I noticed Danny, Uh, he did a great job early
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: in the game, got a sack. Uh, you know, and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: he's got a big, live body and super explosive and
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: athletic and he's becoming a really good player.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: So's Marcus.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: And we held a couple of guys and so he
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and Grayson and David and Trent Wilson got in there
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: and had more snaps and that was great. You know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: as you try to continue to develop your team, I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: think that's a part of uh, what you want to
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: be able to do. You know, one week to the next.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: It's going to pay you know, big dividends you know
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: down the road when you can play more guys. I
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: think we played seventy seventy five guys. You always want
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to play more. But you know that that that was
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: really good. You know, just getting a little bit of
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: a playing time does a lot for the morale and certainly, uh,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: you know, building the team and the depth is a
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: great thing.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Is that what you drink when you got here, especially defense,
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: you want that you could build a unit where you
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: could feel.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Comfortable playing that many guys on deepense sometimes in.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Particularly Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think you have to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: have some competitive depth, and the game's too hard, there's
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: too many challenges. Guys are not going to stay completely healthy.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Most of them won't be completely healthy the whole year,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and so you got to learn to be able to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: play at seventy five eighty five percent. You know, that's
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: what really good players do. But at the end of
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: the day, you know, you only have so much tread
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: on your tires, and so you know, and I don't
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: know what the snap count was, probably not a whole lot,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: but it's great to be able to play more guys.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: It's going to pay big, big dividends, whether it's guys
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: being a little healthier down the road, or the experience
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and the trust and the confidence that everybody gains from
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: being able to play right.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: How big was it to see Kate helps get some
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: action to get that that's good.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I think maybe a second career touchdown. And he's really
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: been blocking well at the point of attack. He's very athletic.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Obviously using a cast there for a good while, but man,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: he my favorite part of what I've seen him take
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: a next step is his ability to go block and
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: put his face.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: On people, in his hands on people. Did you get
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: any sense of relief getting that first turnover?
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, I wasn't anxious about that. I'll be honest,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and I know that they'll come. My excitement is more
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: on the physicality to cause the funnel. Maybe maybe they
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: just fainted and dropped the ball to so I don't
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: we won't to apologize, I can promise you. And then
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: really a good execution on his own blitz on the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: slant route by Jaden Hardy. You know, really that's an
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: excellent execution, you know on their part. I think Kendall
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Dolby had a pressure. The quarterback just pulled it out
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: of the belly. He saw the blitz and tried to
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: poke it in there on the slant. And they had
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: hit the slant same formation earlier. We were in a
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: different call, and it looks like the quarterback thought he
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: was in a man call. We were in a cover
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: two trap concepts. So excellent execution. It's great when the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: defense came so close in those two games against the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Oldinois State and Temple, how should they just value that shutout.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: To that yeah, I think again again.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I want to promote the work, the investment, the preparation,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: the detail, the passion, the energy that it takes to have.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: The the shutouts a byproduct of those things. And so
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: my job is to continue to create buy in by
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: our guys just every single week, you know, just affirmation
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: you know you did well, and so why'd you do well?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Because you're talented, because you know you're popular. No, because
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: it's Oklahoma and its versus Kent Sate.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: No, it has nothing.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: There's plenty of teams that look like crap because they
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: don't show up with an edge, with passion, with energy.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: You know, they're playing to a scoreboard or an opponent.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And and so what I like the most is just
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the validation of the work and the preparation. You know,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: this is a game that'll that will love you back
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: when you love it and do the things that it requires.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Right that that n Lewis couision, that was just such
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: an ice feed couision. Would would you advocate for any
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: sort of padding on those end zone walls to maybe
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: reduce the impact there.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: In the future.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we're evaluating all options when it comes
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: to you know, the safety of our players, you know,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: make things safer without question.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Brenda, how did it feel to get your an in
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: some game time today?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: It was great, No, it was good. I mean to
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: see his smile. You found yourself just cheesing seeing him
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: out there having fun, seeing his teammates celebrate him as well.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: But that was proud of him, really proud of him.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: All right, appreciate it. You'll have a good night.