Brent Venables greets Oklahoma fans with 'Horns Down' ahead of Red River Rivalry

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables woke up and chose violence this morning when he decided to throw a Horns Down towards a sea of Oklahoma fans after exiting the team bus.

Venables charged off the bus and towards Cotton Bowl Stadium, issuing a wave that he then turned into a stiff Howns Down, which was met by a hoard of cheers from the Sooner fans in attendance. Texas fans certainly won’t love that!

But for Oklahoma fans, check out your coach show off some rivalry-day flare as he strolled off the bus and flipped a Horns Down.

#Sooners head coach Brent Venables gets off the team bus and greets OU fans with a horns down at the Texas State Fair. pic.twitter.com/SGOau4t2So

— Randall Sweet (@RandallSweet5) October 7, 2023

That’s the type of energy Oklahoma needs from their head coach if they’re going to pull off the upset win over Texas.

Kirk Herbstreit expects competitive matchup

Texas may end up winning Saturday’s game against the Sooners, but ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit expects the matchup to be much more competitive this year. Herbstreit joined SportsCenter Saturday morning and shared that this is a much different Sooners defense than the one that faced Texas had its way with in 2022.

“Well, I think the biggest thing that Brent Venables has from last year to this year is he now has a defense that understands his scheme. A very complicated scheme. It relies on a lot of late adjustments,” Herbstreit said. “Second year in his system – that, along with going into the portal and recruiting and bringing these guys in – he has 42 new players on this team. It’s a very different group. I think he has 97 guys that are in their first or second year. So it’s a very different roster this year from where they were a year ago.”

It all starts up front for Oklahoma.

The Sooners currently rank No. 4 nationally in scoring defense at 10.8 points per game, and their defensive front is a big reason why.

Oklahoma is No. 8 nationally with 42 tackles for loss. Venables’ Clemson defenses were known for living in the opponent’s backfield, and his Oklahoma defense is now continuing that tradition.

“The defensive line, if you want to watch one key in this game for Oklahoma’s defense, it’s what they can do up front. It’s been a strength of theirs all year,” Herbstreit said. “They’ve bragged about how much better they are. They have more depth.”

While the Oklahoma defense is much improved so far this season, it will get its biggest test of the year on Saturday against Texas.