The Oklahoma Sooners lost their third straight game and fourth out of their last five on Saturday. The Sooners dropped to 1-4 in the SEC and 4-4 overall in 2024 with the 26-14 loss.
Following the game, third-year head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] addressed his team’s performance and some of the missed opportunities that could have swung things in Oklahoma’s favor in his postgame press conference.
“We’ve got to have more discipline, and everything starts and ends with discipline,” Venables said. “We’ve got to play with it. You’ve got to take the things that you do in the course of practice and you got to take it to gameday. Poise under pressure.”
Venables also stressed the importance of playing well against good football teams, especially in a conference littered with them. Ole Miss may not be the best team in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], but they are certainly a talented team capable of playing with almost anyone.
“Teams are too good,” Venables said. “And this, this is a team that’s too good. They’ve got a really good system. And when you make mistakes they’re going to punish you, and it can be the smallest fundamental stakes.”
Oklahoma made their fair share of mistakes on both sides of the football in this game and failed to bow up defensively like we’re used to seeing in 2024. Couple that with an offense that has obvious limitations and an offensive line that can’t compete in the Power Four, and that’s not a recipe for beating a great football team.
The mistakes, lack of toughness, lack of talent, and lack of discipline ultimately fall on the head coach. Venables is no doubt aware of that fact, and the rest of the college football world will have their eyes on how he fixes the many problems that are facing this program right now.
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