Brent Venables got back in the lab after last season. He’s cooked up something worth watching at Oklahoma.
Oklahoma quarterbcak John Mateer shows he’s a tough football player in takedown of Michigan.
In make-or-break season for Brent Venables, he dialed down hot seat talk with Oklahoma’s win against Michigan.
NORMAN, OK — Brent Venables kept pointing to the ground. He wanted his players to put him down.
His Oklahoma Sooners had other ideas. They wanted their coach up on their shoulders, uplifted after a 24-13 takedown of Michigan.
And, so, although Venables felt a bit embarrassed that his players hoisted him aloft after a Week 2 victory, what could the Oklahoma coach do, but let the players enjoy their moment?
‘I’m not apologizing for celebrating with the guys,’ Venables said. ‘They need to celebrate.’
Even if Venables might have preferred to celebrate with his feet planted on the ground.
‘I don’t think Coach V. liked that very much,’ Sooners tight end Jaren Kanak said, as he chuckled, ‘but, it was cool to see that. It’s an incredible win for him, an incredible win for the program.’
It probably says something about just how poorly last season went for blue-blooded Oklahoma that Venables’ players lifted him onto their shoulders after a win against the nation’s 13th-ranked team, an opponent that finished 8-5 last year.
Venables faced make-or-break pressure in this Year 4. The Sooners’ victory and celebration created a scene of a team rallying around its coach.
‘There is an element of celebration to it, but I think that was more emblematic of how much they love playing for their coach,’ Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione told USA TODAY Sports. ‘He has built a great culture here.’
It’s time for that to show in the results column. This victory marks a start.
Venables reconfigured Oklahoma in the offseason. He acquired a new quarterback, and he hired a new offensive coordinator. The offense showed tangible improvement.
He installed himself as defensive play-caller. His defense brought the boom, while handcuffing Michigan.
‘We want to do the hunting,’ Venables said.
The offense, too, hunted in a way it failed to do throughout 2024. Credit the Sooners’ long-haired quarterback, fresh from Washington State.
Oklahoma’s offense resurrects behind John Mateer
Mateer knifed through defenders. He absorbed hits on repeated runs and admitted that he ought to consider sliding a little more often. He threw daring passes that, at times, risked interception, and other times resulted in thrilling completions.
He injected a spark the offense lacked throughout a 2024 season plagued by injuries and insufficient performance.
‘He made some amazing plays,’ Venables said of his transfer quarterback, ‘and threw some lasers.’
None better than Mateer’s rope up the sideline to Isaiah Sategna III, one of 21 transfers Venables brought in. Mateer nearly got sacked on the play. He escaped danger, rolled out, and fired a completion that only a quarterback with his moxie could envision.
‘I trust that kid to no end,’ said Oklahoma’s first-year coordinator Ben Arbuckle, previously Mateer’s coordinator at Washington State.
Mateer showed a steady hand when Oklahoma needed it most. He led the Sooners on a methodical, 16-play, 78-yard drive that chewed up more than eight minutes of clock and ended in a short field goal to extend the lead to two possessions and effectively snuff out Michigan’s attempt at a second-half rally.
‘That drive, altogether, was awesome,’ Mateer said.
So was Oklahoma’s defense. The Sooners never allowed Michigan’s blue-chip quarterback Bryce Underwood to find comfort or develop a rhythm. The Wolverines’ ballyhooed freshman completed only nine passes.
Mateer admired Underwood’s upside.
‘He’s way better than I was as a freshman,’ Mateer said.
Maybe so, but Mateer is way more polished now. He got just enough help, too. Deion Burks, Keontez Lewis, Sategna and Kanak have the makings of a good group of targets. Oklahoma’s offensive line showed progress after enduring an injury-riddled, maligned season. That unit held up against a sturdy Michigan defense.
‘We weren’t going against the sisters of the poor,’ Venables said. ‘You’re going against Michigan.’
Can Brent Venables go from hot seat to College Football Playoff?
The Sooners tasted a high under Venables previously. Two years ago, with a different star transfer quarterback galvanizing the offense, Oklahoma started 7-0 and beat Texas.
The good times didn’t last. Oklahoma lost three of its final six games in that 2023 season. The tailspin persisted. From last October through the end of the season, Oklahoma beat only one Bowl Subdivision opponent – Alabama, of all teams.
That positioned Venables on the hot seat.
Speaking of heat, Venables spoke of his team as having ‘gone through hell,’ and, when you emerge from those fires, ‘you don’t walk the same.’
‘I’m really excited about what this team can become,’ Venables said.
Castiglione hired Venables, then awarded him a raise and extension prior to last season. Castiglione will retire as athletic director later this athletic year and transition into an emeritus role. In other words, Venables’ future will shift into the hands of a different boss.
That won’t become an issue if Oklahoma keeps winning games like this, with a team that appears to have enough talent – and the right quarterback – to pursue College Football Playoff contention.
Oklahoma’s brutal schedule almost seemed tailormade to get a coach fired. It’s a minefield, truly, with many, many more opponents that will be as good or better than Michigan.
Considering the way Mateer and the Sooners’ defense played against Michigan, they could survive and even thrive against this schedule.
Just how good is Oklahoma? Good enough that this shouldn’t be the last signature victory the Sooners celebrate.
‘We have a lot of different types of challenges along the way, in front of us. We know that,’ Venables said, ‘but I think (this) is obviously a step in the right direction.’
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.