Brent Venables isn’t hunting for some hidden formula as Oklahoma heads into 2026. He keeps coming back to the same place: the basics.
That’s where he sees the difference between a team that was good in 2025 and one that can become great in 2026. Oklahoma’s rise from 2024 was widely recognized, even if the Sooners were still picked to finish seventh in the conference, a projection shaped in part by the schedule. Venables, though, sounds confident that he’s bringing back a solid team and believes the next step is turning that “good” label into something bigger.
He’s also looking hard at the Sooners’ three losses from last season, especially the College Football Playoff defeat against Alabama, for the lesson that might push the program forward.
"There’s a confidence piece to it that when we put it together, there’s no limits on what we can accomplish through defeat and through losing," Venables said. "You find out a lot about yourself, and I think it makes you hungry and a little bit pissed off."
That Alabama game is the one that sticks. Oklahoma raced out to a 17-0 lead, then watched the momentum disappear late in the second quarter.
The collapse came in pieces: a dropped deep ball, a dropped punt, then a bad decision that turned into a pick-six. Those were the kinds of self-inflicted mistakes that ended the Sooners’ season on their own field.
"What were the self-inflicted (mistakes). Alabama’s a talented staff and football team and roster, but where did we fall short in things that we can control?
How do you get better from that and try to avoid it next time? At the end of the day, it’s just the basics.
"Catching a snap, hitting the ball flush, recognizing the safety rotation and what to do with the football, that’s what you have to do to win," Venables added.
Venables isn’t just pointing to what went wrong. He’s also acknowledging that the same plain, fundamental stuff helped Oklahoma win a year ago. The challenge now is doing it more often and with more consistency.
"The basics are what won for us and are also how we fell short," he said.
That’s the way Venables tends to talk about football: stripped down, direct, and unsentimental. He doesn’t buy into the idea that winning is some elaborate mystery.
"It’s not overly complicated as you think it is. Sometimes you think it’s the coach or the roster or all these big things, but in reality, most of the time it’s not.
"At the end of the day, it’s just the basics. That's what you have to do to win," Venables added.
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