WATCH: Brent Venables shows off unique dance moves following Oklahoma win vs. Kansas
Oklahoma snapped a three-game losing skid with a 52-42 win over No. 19 Kansas on Saturday, at least temporarily taking some of the heat off first-year coach Brent Venables following a really rough stretch.
And you could practically see the weight lifted from Venables’ shoulders as he celebrated in the locker room with his team.
With the Sooners gathered around and the music pumping, Venables broke it down in a brief dance with his team. The win came one week after Oklahoma was dusted by rival Texas 49-0 in the Red River Rivalry.
The pressure on Venables going into Saturday’s game had mounted following three straight losses. The Sooners had given up at least 500 yards to their opponents in each of the three losses, prompting ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum to call Venables’ hire of defensive coordinator Ted Roof ‘terrible.’
After the loss to Texas, former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, now an analyst at FOX, also chimed in on the state of affairs in Oklahoma.
Meyer’s take was more muted than most analysts, pointing out how early in Venables’ tenure he was. But he did voice a concern, one that Saturday’s win over Kansas might help to at least quell a bit.
Brent Venables’ dance moves offer levity for Oklahoma
If there was a real theme Sunday for Oklahoma coming off the win, perhaps it was summed up best in Brent Venables’ dance moves in the locker room.
He just seemed to be … having fun.
There was not quite enough of that on the Oklahoma sidelines in recent weeks, albeit for good reason given the struggles. And while Kansas was playing a backup quarterback with Jalon Daniels currently sidelined, Oklahoma still got the job done.
Perhaps that will address what was Meyer’s chief concern: recruiting.
“When you look at the word transfer portal, Lincoln Riley not only left the job but took players with him,” Meyer said Tuesday on Urban’s Take with Tim May. “Took the quarterback, took a receiver, I believe, and then they lost seven starters to the transfer portal. I was just looking, the roster he inherited was a shell of what it was.”
“The only negative, Tim, and I was always fearful of this: Once you lose momentum in recruiting, the vultures are out now. Everybody’s pointing right at Oklahoma. I want to see if they start losing recruits and all that kind of stuff.”