Brent Venables
Oklahoma Head Coach
Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement
“Super proud of our team. Great team win today. Really proud of our guys. Glad we got the win today. Offense scored on seven of the first 10 drives. Defense came out and got punched in the face and responded after that. I think they had 77 yards on that first drive and then 71 yards the rest of the half. I’m glad that happened because I believe that you develop a mindset and identity through some failure and adversity. That’s how you grow and improve. I know no one likes that that happened in a Sooner uniform, but you need that to happen. Hats off to Nebraska for being ready out of the gate, but had hats off to our guys for responding the right way. Proud of our guys as a team. Neat place and great environment. Just like I remembered it in the past. It got really loud early, but the best teams learn how to control the volume whether it is home or away. We were able to do that today.”
On Dillon Gabriel’s 61-yard touchdown run
“It was huge. What sweet feet he had too. Who would have thought? Anytime the quarterback has the threat to run the football it is hard. It puts stress on the defense. Obviously we are trying to keep (Dillon Gabriel) clean as much as we can, but he shows you what he can do. He is an explosive player and that is his career long – 61-yarder. Good for Dillon. Great job. He was 16-for-27, 230 yards, two touchdowns. No picks. He had that longest rush of his career and then I love the throw he had there to (Theo) Wease in tight coverage puts it where only our guy can catch and Theo made a good tough competitive play there. That was a great throw.”
On Jaren Kanak
“He played good. I am super proud of Jaren. He is one of the most unassuming guys in our locker room. And he had one of the first what we call the ‘Swift Sooner’ award goes to whoever causes the first turnover and he did that as well. Punched the ball out. Great job. And he is just learning how to play linebacker. He has no idea what he is doing yet but he has made lot of improvement in fundamentals and language, and I know things are going a million miles an hour for me but he did a nice job. The tape is going to be nice for him to learn from. He is really hard on himself. He is an easy guy to coach because he is really demanding on himself as opposed to being a young immature freshman who doesn’t want to be told when he is terrible. And he wasn’t terrible today, but he made some mistakes. He will be the first one to admit that, but so will a ton of other guys. Really proud of him and the progress he has made. Ted (Roof) has done a great job with him.
On leaving his mark on the Oklahoma program
“Tough. Resilient. Edgy. Hungry. Never satisfied. I think those would be the best. I love the way we are developing. Our leadership and our mindset. These guys are super hungry, and they want you to coach them hard. When I say they are literally sitting on the edge of their seats in every meeting, I can’t say it any more clearly and truthful. And when we go to practice it is the same thing. We coach them really hard, and we hold them accountable, but they receive it. We are still have a long way to go, but we are making steady improvement and that is what it looks like and that is what it is about and today again against an offense that schematically what they do to you. They are very unpredictable. They have good players. Structurally they are very sound. They had the third-best running back in the country rushing yards wise coming into today. They might have had some yards rushing, but at the end of the day, they were not able to have the balance that they needed to be successful on offense. Our defense and the way we prepared and our coaches coached them was a big part of them as well.”
On adjustments after Nebraska's first offensive series
"We were like a guy short on a couple of their formations. We weren't perfect after that, but we were better. There were slight secondary adjustments and then an align issue up front. We actually worked it all week, we just didn't recognize it. Players have to recognize it on the field and make the adjustment. I was close to calling a timeout in that first drive and probably should have, but I kept trying to tell them."
NU Athletic Communications
