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Brent Venables critical of Oklahoma’s offensive scheme in loss to Tennessee
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Brent Venables met with reporters on Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference.
Venables covered a myriad of topics, but part of the sessions was spent reviewing OU’s 25-15 loss to Tennessee. The Sooners had numerous mishaps on offense, which ultimately resulted in a quarterback change late in the first half.
And while Jackson Arnold struggled mightily in his time on the field, Venables was also critical of his offensive coaching staff for decisions made throughout the game. Notably, Venables said he was not a fan of the play call on the play where OU took a safety to make the score 12-3 in the first half.
“Don’t love the play design whatsoever,” Venables said. “That’s not what we practiced and that’s what we called. We have some miss-communication and we turn a guy free and he tackles us in the end zone. So that’s what we get and it will continue to happen if we don’t do a better job.”
This wasn’t the only piece of the offense that Venables was critical of. He also seems frustrated OU’s RPO scheme in general when asked about potentially simplifying the offense.
“Complicated? We can uncomplicate it and tell them to hand the damn ball off,” Venables said. “You don’t have to RPO to have a good play. And it’s not like every play is an RPO. Tennessee pretty much was and they’re running it really well.”
OU’s offense is run by co-offensive coordinators Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley. That duo is in their first year as co-offensive coordinators. OU elevated Littrell and Finley to replace Jeff Lebby, who took the Mississippi State job this past offseason.
Oklahoma will be turning to true freshman Michael Hawkins at quarterback this week. Hawkins played well in OU’s loss to Tennessee over the weekend, but this will be the first start of his career.
Oklahoma will be looking to take a big step forward offensively against Auburn in Week 5.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
