Brent Venables Backs His Defense to Improve After 'Sloppy' Performance in Oklahoma's Opener

NORMAN — Oklahoma shut UTEP out in Friday’s opener, but Brent Venables is far from satisfied with how his defense played.

“There's plenty of things we got to clean up,” Venables said after the 51-0 win. “… Thought we were sloppy tackling on defense. I didn't like that at all. We got a little loose in coverage as well. They didn't make us pay, but good teams are going to make us pay moving forward.”

No. 10 OU held UTEP to 198 total yards of offense, but the Miners made it to the red zone twice. If not for three field goal misses from kicker Carlos Arreola, the Sooners wouldn’t have kept a shutout.

That’s not to say that UTEP threatened to make Friday’s contest an actual game at any point, but with contests against Michigan and Georgia on the docket this month, Venables needs his group to iron out some of the finer details quickly.

“Just a little off here and there,” Venables said. “… We weren't challenged the way we're going to be challenged all year, but our guys played with great effort. They took great accountability.

“There wasn't any pushback when it comes to, uh… Nobody's beating their chest at all and we left some opportunities. That was the players; when they broke down, both sides of the ball left some, quote-unquote, meat on the bone and opportunities there.”

The good news?

The issues that popped up in spots for the Oklahoma defense are correctable.

“I think there was a lot of first-game jitters,” OU linebacker Owen Heinecke said. “You know, everybody is anxious to start playing again. People, me included, just jumping out of gaps, trying to make a play.

“We play best when we’re all pretty fundamentally sound. So you know, this next week of practice is going to be good. We’ve got to watch the film, get better and prepare for Michigan. They did a pretty good job of mixing stuff up. But definitely sloppy. A lot of things to improve on.”

Energy was always going to be high on the practice field this week as the Sooners ramp up their preparations for the Wolverines, but Heinecke believes there will be that much more focus this week from everyone on the defensive side of the ball to ensure that Friday’s issues get corrected.

“We know what we need to work on and we’re going to do it, so we’re all looking forward to it,” he said.

Still, there were bright spots.

Defensive end Adepoju Adebawore was very disruptive in the first half opposite Taylor Wein, even though Adebawore was only credited for one sack and an additional tackle in the win.

Venables said that defensive end Danny Okoye would be back against Michigan as well, as the Sooners opted to “hold him” for the opener.

The Sooners aren’t satisfied, however, as they know the schedule ramps up in difficulty come Saturday.

“I felt like this was a 41-40 game just because, again, I know what we’re capable of doing,” Venables said. “I thought we were just a little bit sloppy at times, but those guys have been great.

“They’ve had a great camp, great summer, and their best days are sitting in front of them.”

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