Brent Venables on Oklahoma's OL Struggles: 'Way too Many Guys are Coming and Going'

NORMAN — Ahead of the Red River Shootout against No. 1 Texas, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables held his weekly press conference Tuesday.

The Sooners coach touched on plenty — the offensive issues and the work done to improve the group over the bye week, his confidence in John Mateer, the offensive line struggles, the difficulties of the matchup with the Longhorns, and more.

Oklahoma will take on Texas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The game will be televised on ABC.

Here are a few takeaways from Venables' weekly availability:

Oklahoma won the Joe Moore Award as college football’s best offensive line in 2018 and have had some strong groups since under offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh.

But in recent years, the Sooners have struggled up front offensively for a variety of reasons.

Venables was asked about the issues that have led to those struggles.

“It’s been incredibly inconsistent, very disappointing,” Venables said. “That is a critical piece. That is a piece that probably requires the most development at any position that you have on your roster.”

Bedenbaugh has put quite a few linemen into the NFL — guys like Creed Humphrey and Tyler Guyton among them — but in recent years that hasn’t translated to consistent success on the offensive line for the Sooners.

“Way too many guys are coming and going at that position group and we need continuity and consistency in order to develop that group into what we want,” Venables said. “We’ve got six guys coming in in the ’27 class. It’s going to be incredibly important to bring back a good majority of the guys that are already here, that are young guys that are developing as we speak.

“But it’s been very unstable and certainly not the kind of development that you want from top to bottom.”

The Sooners brought in Luke Baklenko, Jake Maikkula and Derek Simmons ahead of the 2025 season but only Maikkula turned into a regular while Oklahoma lost Josh Bates, Geirean Hatchett, Josh Aisosa, and Eugene Brooks that offseason in the portal.

This offseason, they brought in E’Marion Harris, Peyton Joseph, Caleb Nitta and Fred Hinton in the portal. They lost Jake Taylor, Logan Howland, Jacob Sexton, Isaiah Autry-Dent, Troy Everett and Baklenko.

Taylor, Howland, Sexton and Everett all played significant snaps for the Sooners. Through four games, Harris has started but struggled at right tackle while none of the others have played significant snaps.

Venables: John Mateer 'Carries a Heavy Weight'

Venables gave a vote of confidence to the struggling Mateer during the bye week so it wasn't surprising that he once again expressed faith Mateer could turn things around.

"He cares about being a great teammates, being the leader of a football team playing well," Venables said. "He carries, again, a heavy weight when it comes to that."

Mateer handled the bye week well, Venables said.

"Last he had, again, a good week and responded well," Venables said. "Not an easy thing to do, but I believe in him."

Sooners Looking for Spark Offensively

Bye weeks always offer an opportunity for internal evaluation, but that process is under the under the microscope even more this week with Oklahoma's recent offensive struggles.

Venables said the mission was clear.

"We've been under a lot of pressure," Venables said. "We need to apply the pressure."

Two years ago, the Sooners were in a similar situation with a struggling offense entering the Red River Shootout off a bye week.

"Like anything, when you're not having the success that you want, you lift the cushions up, pull the curtains back," Venables said.

Venables: Texas QB Arch Manning has 'No Weaknesses'

Texas quarterback Arch Manning comes into the game having thrown for 862 yards and seven touchdowns with three interceptions and has run for 82 yards.

Against the Sooners last season, he threw for 166 yards and a touchdown and ran for 34 yards.

"Arch is a fantastic talent," Venables said. "He's got a cannon of an arm. He can really run. He's a teremendous athlete. I think he knows that. ... He's got no weaknesses when it comes to his talent, his ability, his arms, his legs, his instincts."

While Manning hasn't run a ton this season, with just 32 carries, but has shown the ability to run when needed.

"You got to play great team defense," Venables said. "It starts in the run game, but great pass coverage comes from guys doing their job up front."

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