Brent Venables calls out Oklahoma defensive performance in first half vs. Auburn

Oklahoma trailed Auburn by seven at halftime of Saturday’s game, but the Sooners’ defense struggled mightily. The Tigers totaled 278 yards of offense, and Brent Venables called out the performance after the first half.

Venables admitted the defense had to improve in the second half after struggling mightily through two quarters. Auburn took a 14-7 lead into halftime – meaning the Sooners kept the Tigers out of the end zone – but Payton Thorne and the offense had a huge half.

Venables said Auburn did what it wanted against OU’s defense. As a result, the Tigers got the ball downhill, which needs to change out of halftime.

“Not very good,” Venables said of the defense’s performance during his halftime interview with ABC’s Katie George. “We’ve allowed them to just nickel and dime us. Attacking them underneath in our coverage, not reacting. They’re doing a good job running the ball downhill on us right now.”

Oklahoma got off to a fast start on offense when Michael Hawkins ran in a 48-yard touchdown score. However, there wasn’t much else doing as the Sooners totaled 111 yards through the first two quarters.

Brent Venables said Hawkins’ playmaking ability was on display, but the consistency will come down to slowing down Auburn’s pass rush. It also doesn’t help the Tigers had the ball for 19:08 while Oklahoma had a time of possession of just 10:52.

“We’ve just got to handle the rush,” Venables said. “I thought Mike did some really good things in the first half. Auburn’s been on the field and the ball, so we haven’t had many opportunities to get in a really good rhythm. The little bit of the work they’ve had, they’ve done some good things.

“Mike has shown he’s an explosive guy. We’ve got some guys open down the field, we’ve got to locate them. Again, on defense, man, we’ve got to tighten it up a lot of ways.”

Hawkins threw for just 41 yards through the first two quarters as Oklahoma ran for 70 yards – including the long touchdown from the freshman quarterback. On the Auburn side, Thorne looked strong in his return to the starting quarterback role, completing 11 of 16 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns to lead the charge.