Paul Finebaum calls Oklahoma season ‘an abject disaster’ for Brent Venables
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Paul Finebaum took apart Brent Venables the way LaNorris Sellers and South Carolina took apart that Oklahoma defense in Saturday’s 42-25 beatdown in Norman.
The once-ranked Sooners are no longer ranked, and they’re no longer even above .500 overall, sitting at 4-4 with a 2-3 SEC mark after the Gamecocks got through with them in Week 9.
There have been a lot of reasons for Oklahoma’s disappointing 2026 season, but Finebaum opted to go after the head of the snake, which is Venables. The ESPN analyst didn’t hold back while launching into a rant regarding Venables during his recap of last Saturday’s college football slate on The Matt Barrie Show.
Finebaum’s rant happened Sunday, 1 day after Oklahoma’s latest calamity, as the Sooners’ season spirals out of control with Venables at the wheel. When Barrie asked Finebaum for his thoughts on South Carolina’s big victory, Finebaum went the other way and talked about the team that lost and lost badly on its home field.
“I was really interested in that game (Saturday) because I can’t get away from Oklahoma and how they started the season inside the top 10 — and how Brent Venables was just given an extension by their new athletic director who came over from Illinois,” Finebaum said. “I have rarely seen a guy limping more than Venables right now.”
Finebaum wasn’t done, naturally.
“I am going to tell you right now: Brent Venables is dead,” Finebaum said. “He is not getting back. He is out of ammunition. This has been an abject disaster for him, and unfortunately for Oklahoma fans, they are stuck with him.”
Next up for Venables and the struggling Sooners is a trip to The Swamp to face No. 25 Florida on Saturday night (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Venables will try to get off the canvas in Gainesville, and so will his team, although you can bet Finebaum isn’t counting on that happening.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
