Brent Venables' Aggressive Nature Shaping Oklahoma's Fourth Down Philosophy
NORMAN — Since stepping onto the tarmac in Norman, Brent Venables has maintained he’s going to be an aggressive head coach.
As a defensive coordinator, Venables was known for turning up the heat on opposing quarterbacks with inventive blitzes.
His Oklahoma defense has been no different, as Venables unleashed an aggressive game plan last week on Nebraska.
His aggression extended to the offense by hiring Jeff Lebby to implement his up-tempo attack, and Venables has allowed Marvin Mims and Billy Bowman the freedom to return punts and kickoffs.
Through non-conference play, the first-year head coach has also rolled the dice on fourth downs.
Despite rolling to three blowout victories, Venables has given Lebby the green light to go for it on fourth down five times, converting three of those attempts.
Four of those five attempts have come in fourth-and-1 scenarios, with the other against Nebraska being a fourth-and-4 from the drive after Zach Schmidt missed a 39-yard field goal.
Leaning on his decades of experience calling defenses, Venables recognized how difficult it can be to successfully defend four straight plays against a good offense, and it’s something he hopes Lebby’s offense will be able to exploit as the season progresses.
“It’s hard on defense, stopping them on short-yardage situations,” Venables said on Tuesday. “So percentages are there, in your favor offensively, more than you think. It depends on how aggressive you want to be from a field position standpoint.
“I think you calculate it based on the week and what you feel you need to do to be successful. Feel like what you need to do to win. Then the momentum within the moment, their instincts. There’s certainly always analytics behind it.”
Great special teams play has allowed the Sooners to win the field position battle in all three games, and Venables has empowered Lebby as a result.
Four of Oklahoma’s five fourth-down conversion attempts have happened on the opponent’s side of the field, ensuring that failure on the attempt wouldn’t back the defense up into a hole.
Not only has the approach helped OU extend drives, but Lebby feels it’s also helped free him up as a play caller on third downs.
“In all reality, it makes it a lot easier when you know that if you get to two or less, you have the chance to go for it,” Lebby said on Monday. “Getting that information early on in the drive, which has been huge, allows us to play the way we want to play to know you’re operating on four downs if you get it to that certain number.”
Picking up a yard or two on fourth down shouldn’t be an issue for the most part for the Sooner offense, as Lebby’s unit ranks 15th nationally in yards per play, averaging 7.19 yards a snap after completing the non-conference slate.
Venables hasn’t been reckless, either.
He’s sent punter Michael Turk out to kick the ball away 12 times this season, and Turk has averaged 42.83 yards per kick. Since arriving on campus, Venables has recognized Turk as a weapon who can help the Sooners flip the field in any situation.
But even with the luxury of Turk, Venables’ gears are constantly turning.
Every time the Sooners move the chains, the OU head coach takes stock of the situation and keeps an open line of communication with the offensive staff.
“With a new set of downs,” said Venables, “I’m always trying to relay to Lebby what I’m going to be comfortable with, if anything at all, so he can set things up even on first-and-10 instead of waiting until after third down’s over. And sometimes that’s when they'll find out, too. But you try to get that information relayed early in the drive to those guys.”
Thus far Oklahoma has been efficient on fourth downs, and the Sooners hope that aggressiveness will continue to serve the offense well as Big 12 play begins in Norman this weekend.
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