Brent Venables Learned a Valuable Lesson During Oklahoma's Bye Week

Brent Venables spent his off weekend like many college football fans across the country. 

His No. 5-ranked Sooners sat idle after racking up four wins to start the year, so he enjoyed the weekend’s fantastic lineup of games. 

“Got a chance to watch a bunch of football,” Venables said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, “And certainly in our conference, there were four games that came down to the last drive of the game.”

The results across the SEC and top 25 weren’t a shock to Venables, but the weekend’s games reinforced the message he’s preached to his team throughout the young 2025 season. 

“Being a one-possession league and being a one-possession league, it was just affirmation,” he said. “The smallest things always had the biggest consequences and everything matters. Those plays in the first quarter are gonna make a difference in the fourth quarter, situational football, physicality, execution, things of that nature.

“… Whether it was Oregon and Penn State, a Top-10 matchup that comes down to overtime, comes down to the last drive of the game, last play of the game… But it was just affirmation for us if we’re willing to continue to put the work in, stay hungry, driven, ambitious, keep our head down, don’t get distracted, that then we can play with anybody in the country, not a team that we can’t beat. 

“I said this, too. There’s also not a team that’s not capable of beating us if we don’t show up to do what winning requires.”

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Notching wins over No. 20 Michigan and Auburn means the Sooners enter October with every goal still on the table. 

Oklahoma’s schedule is incredibly difficult. Contests against No. 9 Texas, No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 10 Alabama, No. 19 Missouri and No. 13 LSU still loom.

But the parity that has been evident across college football only added urgency to the Sooners’ bye week preparations. 

“We had a fantastic bye week,” Venables said. “Just the focus, the energy, detail… At this point, we don’t have anyone that’s satisfied or is hard to coach. This is a team that is hungry, has the humility to do the things that are necessary to continue to improve and develop, because we’re not even close to where we want to be here or have to be here to manage the challenges that are in front of us moving forward.”

OU’s march through October and November will be difficult, but Venables is excited for the challenge ahead.