Everything Brent Venables had to say after Oklahoma’s 24-13 win over Michigan

The teacher showed the student he has a thing or two left as No. 24 Oklahoma beat No. 13 Michigan, 24-13, on Saturday night in Norman. Sooners coach Brent Venables’ bunch beat ex-OU offensive lineman Sherrone Moore’s Wolverines in the second-ever matchup between the two blue-blood schools. Moore played the 2006 and 2007 seasons at Oklahoma at the same time Venables was serving as the team’s defensive coordinator under head coach Bob Stoops.

Oklahoma’s victory means the Sooners have already matched the total of wins the team had over ranked opponents last year. Accordingly, Saturday’s win was important for Venables, who entered the season on a warm, if not completely hot, seat.

The Sooners’ defense allowed just 288 yards and 12 first downs to the Michigan offense. Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer took it from there. The Washington State transfer went 21 of 34 passing for 270 yards and a touchdown while adding 74 yards and two scores on 19 carries.

Venables was glowing after the game. Here’s what he had to say in the ensuing press conference.

Opening Statement

Sooner Nation, man, they were awesome. They really showed up tonight and affected the game. … Didn’t play our best game and still won by a couple scores. We’ll take that. Really felt like there’s a lot of the game we played really, really well. Had some self-inflicted issues that kept things a little closer. Like a championship-style program that Michigan represents, they kept throwing haymakers, as well. … A lot of the statistical things, I know we won. Minus in the turnover margin. Fantastic in the red zone. Playing some elite level defense. Just the mindset. The mindset sets the tempo for everything. Really proud of the toughness that our guys played with on defense time and time again. … Offensively, really felt like they controlled the tempo of the day. Playing a really good defense, really well-coached. They’ve got a great roster, an elite roster. … Held them 38% completion percentage. That’s hard to do in this day and age. Third down, I think they were 3 out of 15. We were over 50%. That’s a winning formula. Grayson Miller, how about Grayson Miller from UCO. Owen Heinecke led the team in tackles. Walk-on. Bunch of misfits. The O-line was really good. Started off giving the game to (offensive line coach) Bill Bedenbaugh and the offensive line group Really proud of those guys. … Our destination isn’t to be 2-0 and beat Michigan. We feel like we have a heck of a team and have an opportunity with a lot of big-time challenges in front of us. I’m really excited about what this team can become. I’m proud of (quarterback John Mateer). He made some amazing plays. Broke some tackles. Threw some lasers. I don’t know if that was fun to watch. Sure was for me. … Really excited for the guys. Thankful for the coaches and all their hard work. Look forward to going to Philadelphia this week.

On physicality of game

I don’t know. It was a very physical game. They punched. We punched. Went back and forth. We’ve played plenty of physical games. But it was a physical game, no question about it. We want to do the hunting and I thought our guys did a great job of that.

On getting early lead

I thought we got in a good rhythm. I think they’re comfortable. Still two scores, but we had an opportunity to get three scores and just couldn’t put it together. But that was big. We did our best there to keep them in it and give them an opportunity there at the end. I just liked the resolve. Nobody panicked. Made the plays when we needed to. (The final drive) That says a lot. You’re not going against Sisters of the Poor. You’re going against Michigan.

On limiting Michigan quarterback

Just playing complementary defense. Guys up front. Guys in coverage. Not allowing them to have real balance in the run game, that puts them in a more predictable situation. … Just good team defense as much as anything. Guys playing well together for the most part.

On being carried off by players

I’m embarrassed. This is a player’s game first of all. A lot of other people were responsible for getting to that moment. We’re 2-0. Celebrate, man. What we do is too hard. I’m not apologizing for celebrating with the guys. They need to celebrate. Everybody else outside is going to nitpick this and that and all that and that’s fine. But I want our guys to have an appreciation for what everything it takes to go into winning.

On quarterback John Mateer

You saw what he can do. He falls forward a lot. He’s got great strength and great skill. He’s a tough guy. He attacks everything without fear. He plays within the system. Thought our guys had a really good game plan. The plan and the scheme is only as good as the players executing it and I thought they did a good job of executing it. … It starts with that. You don’t have that, man, you’re in trouble. I thought they had a great opportunity to show the toughness and the soul.

On offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle’s game management

I’m just laughing because that’s a close to 10-minute drive and those are hard to get against good people. They’re hard to get at practice against the scouts without some screw-ups along the way. Functional football. Not perfect. But it’s good, functional, clean football.

On the offensive line

Just working in a cohesive way. I said this at some point and time today to somebody, but last year’s team we had 10 different starting lineups in the offensive line. There’s not a more important position on the football team that requires chemistry and cohesion. … Because of having guys out and not available, we had to baptize some guys before they were ready. They did as well as they could, but not quite there yet. To see where we are several months later … Really proud of all those guys, man. Everything that’s gone into it. Bill Bedenbaugh, he’s worked so hard. He’s lived and died with every tackle for-loss, sack, all the things that go into developing a group of guys, he’s put his heart and soul into it.

On young secondary players’ night

We talked about on defense, to the staff, that (the secondary) was going to be one of the most critical parts of this year’s defense. Kind of the question mark. We made a decision not to go into the portal and stick with our young guys and get them ready. … They’ve put in a lot of work. (Pass defense coordinator Jay Valai) has done a great job along with coach (safeties coach Brandon) Hall. The young guys, they’re fearless. They love to work. They’re a bunch of dogs. It was good. We’re going to see lots of different types of tests this year, lots of amazing receivers. That was a good test, a different type of test.

On the meaning of getting a big win this early in the year

Always kind of twists me up. With the recruits, I think there’s a validation. I think they’re looking for certain things. Whether it’s a quarterback that’s looking for a place to call home and a style of offense that has great balance … an offensive lineman that can show their physical toughness … Or to play in a ferocious defense, guys are going to play with tremendous passion, physicality and belief. … Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? … There will be a byproduct of having a good night like that early in the year. Creates a little bit of momentum. That’s real.

On coaching against Sherrone Moore

You don’t ever love playing people that you have great respect for. I don’t get anything about that. I like to win and do it against somebody I don’t really like. That’s fun. They’ll be fine. They’ve won plenty. As we know, just look at the last part of last year and the roster that they had. They had a lot of momentum coming into the year, too. Just one game. But that’s a team that’s going to respond. They’ve showed that the last several years. It was every bit as good as I thought it would be as a roster, how they played. … They punch back and you’re going to have to knock somebody out. They’re not going to give it to you. You’ve got to go take it. That was just validation.

On validation that OU is still OU

I’m not that way. I think every year is a little different. This is a program that has high standards and high expectations. I want everybody to share in the success. I know how much people in this state, people across the country that love the Sooners, how much passion they have for Oklahoma. Everybody wants to win and be successful. For a moment, they get to celebrate and be proud of their team and their school. But that is an expectation here. We met the criteria today. Job well done by our guys.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Brent Venables remarks following Oklahoma’s win over Michigan

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