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Oklahoma

Brent Venables responds to questions on ‘Texas hangover’ in recent weeks

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•11/01/23•

BarkleyTruax

Oklahoma football
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables locks arms with his team, including Dillon Gabriel (8) and place kicker Gavin Marshall (46) before the Red River Rivalry college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. Oklahoma won 34-30.

Oklahoma began October by experiencing its highest high of the season and ended the month with its lowest low.

After sensationally defeating Texas 34-30 on Oct. 7, the Sooners fended off UCF 31-29 before the floor collapsed beneath them, losing to Kansas on the road 38-33 on Oct. 28.

Taking a loss against the Jayhawks, a lesser opponent on paper, directly following what will likely be Oklahoma’s best win of the season is a terrible look for the Sooners. However, Venables isn’t buying that claim that OU is suffering any sort of ‘Texas hangover,’ and believes his team was a few plays away from remaining undefeated.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I don’t look at it like that,” Venables said on Tuesday. “I just look at what we need to do to get better. What we need to do well this week, you know? That’s how I look at it. When we celebrate, maybe they don’t get as many clicks or likes or whatever as it does when you play Texas.

“But we put a lot of work into the course of a week and certainly going into the season. When you have some success, you want to celebrate it and then you want to move on. That’s what a good mature team can do.”

Whether the loss to Kansas ultimately costs Oklahoma a trip to the College Football Playoff remains to be seen, but all they can do now is play the team in front of them and forget about the KU loss. Worrying about anyone other than themselves at this point would be a detriment to their already fading postseason hopes.

“Each game presents its own issues and problems and you try to correct them. You learn from it and move on to the next one,” Venables continued. “Maybe I’m completely wrong — I might be, but that’s how I’ve always approached it. … When you lack attention to detail at times and when you when you lack the discipline that it takes at times — this game will punish you if the other team has a pulse. … We learned a tough lesson, but I don’t look at it having anything to do with Texas.”

The Sooners can get back on track this weekend in Bedlam. Kickoff between the No. 9 Sooners and No. 22 Oklahoma State is set for 3:30 p.m. ET live on ABC. Per Vegas Insider, OU heads into the latter half of game week as a 5.5-point favorite.