Brent Venables assesses the performance of Eric Gray

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables isn’t putting the blame on Eric Gray after the Sooners suffered a 41-34 upset loss to Kansas State on Saturday night in Norman. The senior running back was solid, carrying the ball 16 times for 114 yards and also had a team-high seven receptions for 45 yards receiving.

However, that would not be enough to overcome an abysmal defensive effort as the Sooners allowed a career-high five total touchdowns to Wildcats quarterback Adrian Martinez. Speaking with reporters postgame, Venables offered his thoughts on Gray’s game.

“I loved everything I saw from him,” he said. “Without knowing everything and watching the tape, I thought he ran hard. He got vertical. Went north and south. We didn’t have any turnovers on offense and certainly we didn’t cause any. He gives you a chance to do things well in the running game and certainly in the passing game as well. Really a good football player and we needed to be better around him.”

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Saturday marked the third time in four games this season that Gray has surpassed 100 yards rushing. It was also a season-high for the running back in both receptions and receiving yards. He has so far rushed for 400 yards and two touchdowns this season.

Gray wasn’t the only member of the Sooner offense to post a big day, though. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel also had a big performance, going 26-of-39 passing for 330 yards and four touchdowns, including two scores of 50 or more yards.

But while Gray had a good day running the ball, Kansas State had an even better one against the Sooner defense. K-State won the battle up front, averaging 5.6 yards per carry to finish with 275 yards rushing as a team — the most OU has allowed all season by more than 100. Four of Martinez’s five total touchdowns came on the ground, and both he (148) and running back Deuce Vaughn (116) surpassed 100 yards rushing.

Oklahoma dropped 12 spots to No. 18 in the AP poll Sunday and will hope it can turn things around next week when it faces TCU on Saturday in Fort Worth. Brent Venables will hope Eric Gray can carry over his impressive performance from last week into that one.