By John Shinn
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The rumblings have been loud, but Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables hears little of it.
It’s tough being a coordinator at Oklahoma. Fickle fans may understand they can’t recruit, run a practice or devise a winning game plan, but many believe without a doubt they can call plays.
After the Sooners’ two losses to Colorado and Texas Tech, a lot of the ire on talk radio and message boards was directed at Venables.
But after Wednesday night’s Fiesta Bowl against No. 11 West Virginia, Venables will have completed nine seasons on OU’s sidelines and his fourth as defensive coordinator.
He doesn’t sweat the heat.
“Part of the gig, I guess,” Venables said. “The only ones you’ve got to please are your players and your boss, and he hasn’t come to me with any complaints.”
OU coach Bob Stoops has none.
“That is comical. How can you say that?” he said. “Look what we have done.”
The Sooners have faced the Nos. 6 (Texas Tech), 7 (Missouri twice), 9 (Tulsa) and 18 (Texas) scoring offenses this season. They held every one to at least a touchdown less than their average.
It was after the Texas Tech game that Venables’ critics cranked up the heat. The Sooners’ hopes of playing for a national championship ended with a 34-27 loss to the Red Raiders.
Fans hopped on the 34 points as the reason. There’s no doubt it might have been the unit’s worst game of the season. OU gave up 473 yards.
But more than half those yards (246) and all but 10 of those points came in the first half while OU sputtered offensively following Sam Bradford’s concussion.
“I think it’s kind of funny. It’s surprising how many couch coaches there are and how many people think they know what to run,” OU middle linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “Coach V is a great coach and you just have to go out and let him coach and let us play.”
The two games since should have answered the critics.
The Sooners held Oklahoma State and Missouri — the Nos. 8 and 5 teams in total offense — to a combined 34 points and more than 175 yards under their season averages.
Venables, however, doesn’t pat himself on the back.
“Players make plays,” he said.
Venables’ focus has always been on getting his players in the position to make them.
Lofton went from a first-year starter and a bit of a question mark in August to a consensus All-American this season. One of the reasons is the almost maniacal attention to detail Venables demanded from him in meetings, the film room and on the practice field.
Football is a game of yards, but Lofton said he rarely hears Venables talk about the game in such measurements.
“I’ve been a couple inches off here or there and I’ll hear, ‘Curtis, get lined up!’ I’ll pick up my foot and move it over an inch and then he’s happy,” Lofton said. “He always says football is a game of inches. You’re either on or off. You can be an inch off and miss a play or an inch on and make it. All the inches matter. Coach V pays attention to every inch.”
In this day and age, a coach has to.
Offenses become more intricate every season. The teams the Sooners have faced this year have been some of the most potent in the country. The Mountaineers will be the sixth team they’ve faced averaging more than 450 yards a game.
Keeping up with all the intricacies is difficult, but the Sooners have managed. And Venables deserves his share of the credit.
“Outside of a few quarters during the season, the whole season, our guys have played really well,” he said. “And we’ve played some awfully good teams.”
The Sooners played well enough to win the Big 12 Conference title for the fifth time since 2000 and for the third time in Venables’ four seasons as defensive coordinator.
“I don’t think we’ve won the Big 12 in spite of the defense,” he said.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
