Brent Venables sounds off on Oklahoma injuries, remains mum on Dillon Gabriel status

Oklahoma took a beating against TCU, both on the scoreboard and on the injury front. The most notable Sooner to go down was quarterback Dillon Gabriel who entered concussion protocol after taking a hit while sliding down. Gabriel exited the game and was not able to return.

Head coach Brent Venables had the opportunity to give an update on Oklahoma’s injuries for the first time since Saturday but did not give much up. He said everything is “still up in the air” as far heading into Saturday’s Red River Showdown matchup against Texas.

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“There’s some injury situations going on right now that are still up in the air,” Venables said.

When asked to go into further details specifically about Gabriel, Venables said he was not going to. However, he did say “we’ll have three quarterbacks taking reps this week.” That’s between Gabriel, Davis Beville, and General Booty.

For now, there’s been no decision made as to who will start.

While Gabriel will receive the most attention, he is far from the only Oklahoma player having issues after the TCU loss. Damond Hartman also had a scary moment in Fort Worth, being carted off the field for a head or neck injury.

Key defensive back Billy Bowman exited the game early on as well. There are a lot of important players the Sooners could be without in Dallas but for now, we’ll have to wait and get an update from Venables later in the week.

Steve Sarkisian praises Brent Venables ahead of first head-to-head matchup

The offensive mind of Steve Sarkisian will be going up against defensive specialist Brent Venables on Saturday. Add in the flavor of it being Texas-Oklahoma and it’s a matchup many eyeballs will be watching on Saturday.

While the Sooners are not off to a great start in the Venables era, Sarkisian still has faith the program will succeed under him. The Texas headman said Oklahoma will “win a lot of football games” moving forward — whether that’s in the Big 12 or SEC.

“Brett’s a heck of a football coach. They’re gonna win a lot of football games,” said Sarkisian. “I’ve known him a long time. He’s done it at a high level wherever he’s been…They’ll be okay. He’s a heck of a coach.”

Sarkisian himself got off to a slow start in Austin, producing a disappointing 5-7 record in Year One. Now, both coaches have the opportunity to seize momentum back in their favor against one another at the Cotton Bowl.

A special rivalry game no matter the circumstances, seeing Sarkisian and Venables duke it out will produce some exciting football.