In Brent Venables' third year, Oklahoma has too many different problems to not worry about

DALLAS – Oklahoma knew it was a heavy underdog going into its annual rivalry game with No. 1 Texas. The Sooners knew they had to force some turnovers, as they did a year ago en route to a 34-30 upset of the Longhorns. When Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers' first pass was intercepted, the Sooners had exactly what they needed.

Then Oklahoma coach Brent Venables tried to play it safe when faced with fourth-and-4 at the Texas 27-yard line by eliminating the field goal unit. Tyler Keltner's 44-yard field goal attempt missed.

It's Year 3 and Venables still seems to have no understanding of his Oklahoma program or the situation the Sooners find themselves in. An early decision in the fourth couldn't have reversed the 34-3 loss, only field goals would never beat Texas.

It is unacceptable for a program like Oklahoma to find itself in this position at this point in a coach's tenure, with zero answers on offense, a leaky offensive line and a messy quarterback situation of their own making.

Go deeper

No. 1 Texas hasn't peaked yet. What happens when it happens?

For the second time in three years, Venables' Oklahoma team was defeated by the Longhorns and failed to score a touchdown. That never happened under Lincoln Riley. That never happened under Bob Stoops. This happened once with John Blake and he was fired at the end of that season. From 1965 to 2021, Oklahoma has only scored three points or fewer against its Red River rivals once. It has now happened twice under Venables.

A gutted roster due to a coaching change and an injury to quarterback Dillon Gabriel were convenient excuses for Oklahoma's 49-0 loss in 2022. Those excuses can't be applied to the OU offense's meager 3.4 yards per play on Saturday. Even with the Sooners' top five receivers out due to injuries, their quarterback situation is the most glaring issue. Oklahoma put everything in Jackson Arnold's basket and prepared to hand the reins over to the highly touted former five-star recruit for his second college season, to the point that it was no longer tenable for Gabriel to do so remain after he decided not to go to the NFL.

Gabriel is now at Oregon leading a top-five team, while Arnold was benched in the 25-15 loss to Tennessee in Week 4 due to turnover issues and hasn't seen the field since. His replacement, Michael Hawkins Jr., has turned some heads, but the true rookie just isn't ready for this moment. That became clear when he threw the ball away on fourth down in the fourth quarter. He completed 19 of 30 passes for just 148 yards and a lost fumble. He rushed for 27 yards…on 20 attempts, most of them scrambles.

When asked after the game if he was considering a quarterback change, Venables simply replied, “No.”

Oklahoma has already pulled the rug out from under a hyped young quarterback. Venables doesn't want to do it to anyone else. Who knows what Arnold's future holds in Norman. Because he only played in four games, he can redshirt and retain eligibility for this year if he doesn't play again this season.

The Sooners surprisingly won that last-second game a year ago, and it appeared as if Venables and Oklahoma had overcome their rocky 6-7 debut season and returned to near the top of college football. But the Sooners finished the game with three losses, and there wasn't a single offensive starter available on the field in last year's Red River win today. Receiver Nic Anderson, who caught the winning touchdown pass, was out all season except for one series against Tennessee.

On the other side of the field, the Orange team has had to deal with numerous quarterback injuries in recent years, turning to Maalik Murphy or Arch Manning while Ewers was temporarily sidelined, and continued to have success. The Longhorns have two quarterbacks they are comfortable with. Oklahoma doesn't have one. Meanwhile, former Sooners Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams will all begin NFL games on Sunday. It was an incredible drop-off.

When Texas and Oklahoma announced their moves to the SEC in 2021, the conventional wisdom was that the Sooners would continue to be a dominant program while the inconsistent Longhorns could face tougher competition. The reputation of the two has completely changed.

Now it's Oklahoma that has quarterback chaos and a lack of answers. It is Texas that has the dominant offensive line after Oklahoma held that edge for nearly a decade. It's Texas, coming off a College Football Playoff appearance and sitting atop the standings as the only undefeated team in the SEC. The Sooners are 4-2 and are fortunate that an Auburn collapse helped them avoid a 3-3 start. A bowl game is not a sure thing. Only Maine is an obvious win in their brutal second half game plan.

To his credit, Venables solved the defensive problems that doomed the Lincoln-Riley era. Oklahoma signed a top-10 recruiting class last year and is approaching that number again for 2025. He does many of the things he was hired to do. He has an SEC-level defense.

But he doesn't win in the Oklahoma standard. And now he's been embarrassed twice by Texas. In today's version of the sport, you can't win many games between 17 and 14, especially not this rivalry game. The Sooners' defense simply fell flat Saturday, and there was no offense that could help.

A change in offensive coordinator seems possible after this season, if only to help the optics. Venables followed Dabo Swinney's strategy of promoting Joe Jon Finley and Seth Littrell from within after Jeff Lebby left for Mississippi State and has achieved similar results to Swinney. But looking at the Sooners, it's hard to say that play-calling is the problem. They just don't have the horses, and they should do that by third grade. Arnold would carry Oklahoma into the future. The Sooners opted out at the first sign of trouble and didn't have much else.

Oklahoma is the winningest college football program since World War II. Aside from a rough patch in the late 1990s, Sooners fans have known nothing but dominance.

Their biggest concern right now is that bowl eligibility seasons and big losses to Texas could become a new normal if this program doesn't find an identity quickly.

(Photo: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)