Brent Venables against a true freshman quarterback? That had better be ‘advantage, Sooners’
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Brent Venables was brought to Oklahoma for a matchup like this.
In Week 2, the only matchup of ranked foes will be in Norman, Oklahoma. Hence, why College GameDay is making its second trip to Norman in its consecutive seasons. Brent Venables and the Sooners would prefer that this time goes differently than last time, wherein a 5-star (redshirt) freshman quarterback played well enough to lead Tennessee to a win in a hostile atmosphere.
Check that. Venables needs this time to go differently when another 5-star (true) freshman quarterback rolls into Norman with a 7:30 p.m. ET spotlight game on ABC. If that’s not the type of matchup that favors Venables in Year 4, it’ll be fair to question why he should be at Oklahoma.
Don’t get it twisted. Venables has done certain things well in Norman. Recruiting in the trenches and coaching up a defense are both things that he did better than his predecessor, and long term, that could be a reason why Oklahoma doesn’t fade into mediocrity in the SEC.
But at the same time, he’s tasked with making sure this isn’t a 3rd losing season in 4 years. Specific to Saturday, Venables is tasked with making a true freshman quarterback in his first career road start feel like he’s getting his “welcome to college football” moment. With all due respect to Illinois State, who held a 5-3.5 sack adjusted rushing yards/carry advantage on Oklahoma in Week 1, I imagine that Venables has had plenty of time to prepare for Bryce Underwood this offseason.
Speaking of Underwood, he looked the part in Week 1. That was also at home against New Mexico. That’s not throwing with R Mason Thomas barreling down on you on 3rd and 9 against a disguised coverage that you’ve never seen before. Go ask Jalen Milroe about that.
Those are the spots in which Oklahoma must thrive, especially considering that Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale might have a thing or 2 up his sleeve for John Mateer, who’ll be getting his first real national spotlight game as Oklahoma’s QB1.
Picture those optics if that’s the storyline by night’s end
That is, Martindale doing to Mateer what he did to Will Howard and Jalen Milroe last season while Underwood carves up Venables and the Sooners. Yikes. We can dig into what a tough look that would be for the all-important decision to bring in Mateer as the offensive savior, but the latter would be the tougher pill to swallow for Venables.
If you watched Underwood in the opener, he threw with confidence and anticipation. Shoot, he was even out there delivering goal-line blocks with his throwing shoulder. Consider that a freshman mistake. Besides that, though, there weren’t a whole lot of freshman mistakes to be had in his highly anticipated Michigan debut.
Venables is tasked with making Underwood second-guess himself. I can’t imagine he’s had to do that much in his decorated football career.
Say what you want about Venables, who is now locked in as his own defensive play caller, but he showed last year that he could confuse experienced quarterbacks. Remember that monumental pick-6 by Kip Lewis in the Auburn game? That’s scheme. That was a pre-snap read by Payton Thorne, who assumed that he had single coverage on the outside … only to realize after the ball released his hand that Lewis dropped into coverage.
And yeah, did I mention that Thomas applied the pressure in a key spot on that one, too?
This matchup, which has a 5.5-point spread and an over/under of just 46.5 (via BetMGM), could come down to a critical play like that. As much as Michigan would love to lean on Alabama transfer Justice Haynes and the ground game to do the heavy lifting, at some point, Underwood will be tasked with making quick, smart decisions to keep a drive alive.
Last year, Nico Iamaleava didn’t look too overwhelmed doing that in the aforementioned headliner game against Tennessee. Josh Heupel was also smart enough to recognize that with how badly things were going for the Oklahoma offense, he could take the ball out of his quarterback’s hands in the second half and trust the Dylan Sampson-led rushing attack to put things away.
All the attention focused on Heupel winning his breakup game with Oklahoma, as well as the Sooners’ offensive woes. What probably got overlooked was the fact that Iamaleava did make those 2 freshman mistakes — both strip-sack fumbles that were turnovers — and the Sooners didn’t take advantage of it. In fact, Oklahoma (redshirt) freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold fumbled on the very next play. Twice. The second one, which was a backwards pass that was forced by Tennessee’s pressure, led to his benching and a season of questioning Venables’ long-term future in Norman.
Neither quarterback who takes the field on Saturday night is a bad turnover away from getting benched. For all we know, both could be in for successful nights en route to late-season Heisman Trophy consideration.
But for Venables, now is his time to shine. Soon, he’ll have a new boss after Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione officially retires. Depending on how this season goes, there could be a decision ahead on Venables and his $35 million buyout. It’s a decision that could be shaped largely based on nights like Saturday against Michigan.
Last year’s Tennessee game turned out to be a sign of things to come for Oklahoma. Perhaps the same will be true of this showdown against Michigan. Either way, all eyes will be on Venables.
Now is as good a time as ever to remind the college football world why he belongs in Norman.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
