What Brent Venables said after the Sooners’ 38-33 loss to Kansas
No. 6 Oklahoma (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) fell to Kansas (6-2, 3-2) 38-33 on Saturday in Lawrence.
Here’s some of what Sooners head coach Brent Venables had to say about the upset:
On overall impression of the loss
“Incredibly disappointed. Made too many mistakes today. Turning the ball over, penalties, the timing of all of it was really poor, and really, to me, it all falls on me. The fourth down, I should’ve called the timeout there and put our guys in and let them get settled down and I didn’t. So, I blew it and I really felt that I could’ve helped those guys in that situation.
“Didn’t play with discipline. Same thing two weeks in a row. Different ways, but it all counts the same. It’s discipline and a lack thereof. 11 penalties for over 100 yards, three turnovers, (and) not taking care of the football. I thought our guys played with effort. I think we always played real smart and gave ourselves a chance to win late with a couple of turnovers forced, but again, I let our guys down on that two minute drill. I could’ve helped them get the fourth down there. … Been telling them for several weeks in a row we’re not going to be defined by any one win or any loss. We’ve got a lot still out in front of us. This one hurts, it stings. … We’ve got Oklahoma State and certainly the rest of our schedule. An opportunity to still achieve most of our goals. So now it’s about how we respond.”
On linebacker Danny Stutsman’s injury and how the defense was affected
“I thought our guys responded well. … We rotated some other guys in there but it hurt for Danny and he’s a great player. So, I’m sure to some degree there’s an impact, but no excuses. We didn’t do the things that it takes to win a game. A tough, tight game, but KU did. I don’t want to take anything away from coach (Lance) Leipold and their football team either.”
On being conservative with the offense after Ethan Downs’ interception
“You’d like to be better there. You’d like to chew up some clock maybe and get a first down. But you forced them to use their timeouts…you could have been a little better on the two minute. We’re not having this conversation, but you certainly look back at it after the fact. You don’t want to expose yourself and turn it over but you’d like to get the first down there. It makes things a hell of a lot easier.”
On getting away from the running game in the second half
“I’d have to go back and look. Obviously, we came up with second half-punt, punt, fumble and then we got a touchdown then we punted and got another touchdown. Again, we went three-and-out and punted when we were making them use their timeouts there. One of the big plays in the game, we ended up punting (and) we got the penalty for unnecessary roughness on offense. After a really good run and it’s going to be short yardage for a first down, we end up punting. … We were backed up and that’s what the game does to you. You get punished when you don’t leave a lot of things right and (we) certainly didn’t.”
On Tawee Walker getting injured
“He had a career-high. He was really playing behind his pads well and not having those two guys, that’s part of the game too. You can hate it for Tawee, he was playing really well and he gave us a chance to get back in it and get the lead as well.”
The targeting call against Reggie Pearson
“They said they lunged and hit him in the head. … It is what it is.”
On further inconsistencies with the offense
“I got confidence in them. That’s football. We got to be better in lots of parts of the game at both sides of the ball. There’s a lot that goes into it. To me, they gave us a chance there to win the game. We can’t turn the ball over … The unsportsmanlike penalty was huge. We got to stop them on D. We forced a field goal, we had two back-to-back series where we forced interceptions and then, to me, it comes down to that two-minute drive where I got to be better for the guys there on fourth down.”
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