Brent Venables has a Steve Sarkisian problem

DALLAS, TEXAS – OCTOBER 12: (L-R) Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners hugs Head coach Steve Sarkisian of the Texas Longhorns following the game at Cotton Bowl Stadium on October 12, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Brent Venables has a new contract through the 2031 season. He still needs a better answer for the Texas Longhorns.

In four Red River games against Steve Sarkisian, the Oklahoma Sooners head coach is 1-3, getting outscored 106-9 in those defeats, which have not featured a single touchdown scored by OU. For a defensive coach, that’s a hard record to explain. His offense has been part of the problem, too.

Texas has won in different ways. The Longhorns overwhelmed Oklahoma in 2022 and pulled away with explosive plays in 2024. Last season, third-down execution, defense, and special teams carried them. In 2023, Oklahoma got the stops it needed and drove for the winning touchdown.

Oklahoma enters this Saturday’s meeting at 2-2. Quarterback John Mateer is struggling, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and longtime offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh are under growing scrutiny, and the Sooners head back to Dallas trying to keep another season from slipping away.

The stakes in Dallas

At the venerable Cotton Bowl, the crowd is burnt orange on one side and crimson on the other, divided at midfield. Outside the stadium, the State Fair recorded 212,003 visitors across the fairgrounds on game day in 2024.

Records offer no guarantee here. A 1-4 Texas team beat No. 10 Oklahoma 24-17 in 2015. In Sarkisian’s first Red River game in 2021, Lincoln Riley’s Sooners erased a 28-7 deficit and won 55-48. The rivalry can test a team’s nerve without settling which program is better over a full season.

The results follow coaches long after they leave Dallas. Bob Stoops went 9-6 against Mack Brown; Barry Switzer went 3-0-1 against Darrell Royal. But beating Oklahoma in 2013 did not keep Brown from leaving after 16 seasons. Royal’s 20-year tenure ended after that winless four-game stretch against Switzer. Those results shape legacies, but they do not determine a coach’s future alone.

2017 national championship: Clemson 35, Alabama 31

Before Red River, the two met as coordinators in the January 2017 title game that decided the 2016 championship. Sarkisian called Alabama’s offense after replacing Lane Kiffin a week before kickoff. Venables coordinated Clemson’s defense. Alabama converted just two of 15 third downs and punted 11 times.

Bo Scarbrough ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns before leaving with an injury in the third quarter. Jalen Hurts put Alabama ahead on a 30-yard touchdown run with 2:07 remaining, but Clemson answered with the winning touchdown.

2022: Texas 59, Oklahoma 0

Venables’ first Red River game as head coach was the most lopsided of their four meetings.

Texas gained 585 yards, split almost evenly between passing and rushing, Quinn Ewers threw four touchdown passes, Bijan Robinson ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns, and the Longhorns’ four first-half touchdown drives covered 90, 92, 80 and 79 yards.

Dillon Gabriel’s absence after a concussion left Oklahoma with few answers at quarterback. Davis Beville and a series of wildcat formations couldn’t sustain the offense, and the Sooners finished with only 195 yards.

That helps explain the zero. It does less to explain the 49. Texas scored seven offensive touchdowns and posted its largest winning margin in the rivalry.

2023: Oklahoma 34, Texas 30

Texas gained 527 yards, but Ewers threw two interceptions and lost a fumble and Oklahoma handily won the turnover battle by avoiding any giveaways. Early in the fourth quarter, the Sooners stopped three Jonathon Brooks runs near the goal line, then tackled Xavier Worthy short of the end zone on a completed fourth-down pass.

Sarkisian’s aggression had already paid off with a touchdown pass to Gunnar Helm on 4th and 1. At the goal line, though, Oklahoma got the stop it needed.

Even then, Texas took a 30-27 lead after Bert Auburn’s field goal with 1:17 left, but Gabriel took Oklahoma 75 yards in five plays, finding Nic Anderson for the winning touchdown with 15 seconds remaining. Gabriel finished with 285 passing yards and another 113 on the ground.

2024: Texas 34, Oklahoma 3

Oklahoma led 3-0 after the opening quarter. Texas scored every point after that.

Returning from injury once again, Ewers found his rhythm on a 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that ended with a pass to Helm. The Longhorns soon pulled away as Quintrevion Wisner fumbled near the goal line at the end of a 36-yard run, but Silas Bolden, hustling the entire play, recovered the ball in the end zone. After an Oklahoma fumble, Wisner scored from 43 yards out.

Bolden’s recovery was a break for Texas, which kept finding room to run, rushing rushed for 177 yards and averaging 6.7 yards per play overall, compared with Oklahoma’s 3.4.

Texas could afford an uneven start. Oklahoma’s offense gave its defense almost no margin for error.

2025: Texas 23, Oklahoma 6

Last season offered Venables a good chance to earn a second win. Oklahoma arrived unbeaten and ranked sixth. Texas was 3-2 after a loss at Fl

Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.