Brent Venables says what a lot of fans won’t want to hear regarding the Sooners’ push to cement their spot in the College Football Playoffs

Sooners HC Brent Venables talks College Football Playoffs before matchup vs. Mizzou

“We don’t have a no-playoff policy in our building,” Venables told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s not something that leads the topic of conversation. My job is not to be naive, but to try to protect an environment, try to help them think the right way, and be committed to a process that is void of distractions and things that can work against you.”

The one thing fans won’t want to hear, even though it’s true and everyone knows it’s true, is that there’s still a lot the Sooners need to fix. If they want to not only make the CFP but also win a game or two in the playoffs, they have a lot of work to do.

“But again, man, we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Venables continued. “That is so far away, in my opinion. Maybe in a few more weeks, you’re talking about that. We’ve got a lot of work to do. And a lot of challenges sit in front of us.”

The Sooners have an offense to fix, and they have to figure out how to stop tight ends in pass coverage on defense. That's really the only defensive issue they have. As for the offense, well, there are a ton of issues. Just when you think they have the run game fixed, the Sooners struggle to run the ball at times against a run defense in Alabama that has been average at best.

Not to mention, there was almost no passing game last week, and hasn't been the last few weeks. Oklahoma has the 10th-ranked scoring offense, and the 11th-ranked passing offense in the SEC, out of 16 teams. They have to improve it, or the playoffs could be ugly.

window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll && event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-1538').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-1538').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');

This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Nov 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.