The Oklahoma Sooners earned a win over the New Mexico Lobos to improve to 2-1 on the season. But the win didn't leave Oklahoma feeling satisfied after a second straight week where the offense struggled to move the football and turned it over multiple times.
Oklahoma won the game, but it was a performance that left a lot to be desired.
If not for another strong defensive showing, Oklahoma might have found themselves on the wrong side of a historic upset. The Lobos came to play and made the Sooners offense work for everything they got. It took a busted coverage on Isaiah Sategna's touchdown and a herculean effort by Hayden Hansen to get the Sooners into the end zone.
Simply put, it's going to have to be a lot better moving forward
Opening Statement after Oklahoma beat New Mexico
Alright. Well, that
was that was ugly. You know, proud of the fight of our guys overcoming three turnovers in the first half. Incredibly fortunate to be up seven to six, And you know those are some incredible turnovers, man, killers. But the toughness and resolve, the defense, man-they really responded and saved our butt. And got to get better. You know, two things can be true: thankful for winning, really proud of the defense. They were outstanding, you know, virtually most of the night, and several guys had to step up there because of some injuries, and thought they really responded. You know, when John threw the ball, he threw it pretty good. Although we had two picks, you know. That one we got a a screen pressure reliever, and the running back doesn't get his head back, and we throw it to them, and and obviously the first one on the first drive we get beat on an easy plug stunt, and he's got to move off the spot, and it tries to squeeze one in a hole, something can't do there, and they were all over it, but defense continued to respond all night. Disappointed, we missed our field goal there right before half. Thought we could stop the clock there by running the ball. They were playing really soft, weren't lined up. Thought we we had the first down. Tried to get it again, didn't get it. So we had to kill the clock there and try to kick the field goal, but we were hoping to be able to save the the time by killing it with the first down. So you know, messed up the opportunity to score there with the miss. The defense had six sacks, 10 tackles for loss, 3.2 yards per play. That's a it's a really good offense and tough to defend the variety of the things that they do. Outstanding on third down, big fourth down stopped there, right there at the end as well. And you know, just the only thing we didn't get were turnovers, but stopped them on downs and continued to knock them backwards over and over and over. So they played faster than we did on offense. Their defense did beat us to the spot several just times over and over and over, and got to get better. There's captain obvious here. Got a lot of work to do, a lot of improvement to do, but you know, going to to Georgia and going to look like what it looked like out there today, as far as the people that we're going to line up against. So, got a lot of work to do.
On not being able to run the football
Yeah, I mean, staying on schedule and being able to move people and create you know more opportunity to run the football, move the pile, was disappointing.
On if there's anything Oklahoma can hang their hat on
Not really. no, no. When you watched the game, did you see anything?
I mean we're obviously, we haven't done that. We haven't gotten to a rhythm, you know, with with really much of anything. But you know, we're just too erratic and and not consistent enough, not enough rhythm to what we're what we're doing, and even the you know we're our own worst enemy, worst penalties at the worst times. It seems like you know really we get the ball with good field position, and then we we get a false start, and then we get a hold, and next thing you know we're we're punting again, and nothing wrong with the opponent you know making plays, and you're going to get got. That's going to be part of football, and but you know when we're getting in our own way with whether it's discipline or just the lack of focus, that's very discouraging.
On the Sooners Offensive Line
I know they they they kept the whole team down there. They're in zero a lot. They had they were let us run the ball. They were very committed to that. And there were times we again we threw the ball decent. We got to give the quarterback time. You know, we he had to. You know, they had ran a little cross dog linebacker stunt, and we had we had Elijah wide open on a post route, and we end up misthrowing that because we had to move off the spot. And those opportunities, you know, when you dial it up, man, you gotta you gotta connect on those. Those are. Killers for you on defense, and it changes what you do structurally on defense. If you can make those plays, and we got to be able to do that.
On Offensive Coordinator Ben Arbuckle
I'm not going to talk about confidence. I mean, he's our offense coordinator, and you know, we got a lot of work to do to get to improve, to get better, we're going to need to make improvement. If you know we're going to have a chance to, you know, to win the games, you know, against the teams that we're going to play, you know, that we can't again keep playing with a, you know, a hot stove, and we got to win the margin. We got to create turnovers on defense. We've got to, you know, create explosive plays on offense more consistently, and get into a rhythm where we move the football, and complement each other. Play complementary football, where we obviously didn't do that today.
On the guys trying to make plays
But I thought our guys played with pretty good poise defensively. Didn't try to. You know, our first game. I felt like we were trying to make plays tonight. I did not think that. I didn't see that. But where we played, quote unquote, undisciplined or maybe pressed and try to go make a play instead of make the plays that are there, do your job, things like that. Isaiah, you know, I can't really say. I got a, you know, that happened a couple of times last year, and man, that was very. That's that's uncomfortable to watch, and we're fortunate that we're able to hold on to those. The wind was kind of swirling in the in the stadium like it can do at times, and we misjudged a couple. The the the one that he fumbled, he can't he can't try to go make that play, and and you know he knows that. That's the one right there. You got to let that one hit the ground. He's he's trying to keep it from, you know, a week ago. I would say you know maybe he's pressing on that one because a week ago, not it was the not that it was the same field zone, but a week ago, you know, the field position wasn't in our favor, right? Two play, two balls at the one, one at the 10, one at the 12, and one at the 15, and so he didn't want to let that one hit and roll, you know, inside the five yard line, and misjudged it, and and needed to let that one go.
On the confidence level of the offense
I think if you're playing at if you're playing at a high level, you know you have confidence, right? You get into a rhythm. You know, it-that's a very real thing. And so, you come out of the first game with with confidence, and then you go play against much stiffer competition in front of 111,000 people, and you miss opportunities that are there, and it can it can start to creep into you know your your confidence, certainly your rhythm. The other team builds confidence and builds rhythm, and and you can start pressing, you know. And we certainly did that a week ago, and played played some bad football. Come back and you know have a couple. Good drives that, until we didn't the third drive of the second half a week ago didn't go our way. That was the pick six, and you know we lose a one score game on the road against who knows. It doesn't really matter to me whether or not they're good or bad. I just look at us and we were we were not good enough, and we at times bad offensively in particular, but and then you know this week again, just they're gonna make you throw the ball over the top, and we had some opportunity. We ran the ball, you know, at times hit a couple of creases here and there, but nothing consistently, and that's disappointing and it's discouraging, and they're good at what they do. I give them some credit, but this is not about them as much as it is about us and where we need to be better.
On Defenses Crowding the Box
Just not respecting us pushing the ball down the field. Obviously, why? Why else would you do that? You know.
On the Mateer interceptions
I think like the first interception, we we got to protect better. We just got beat on a, you know, wasn't very good. Just a single backer pressure, little plug stunt against you know, it's bad. It was bad, you know. Just we got we got to coach them better. We got to we, you know, if we put it on tape, we put on the field. Then man, that's on us, you know, as coaches. So if it's crappy, it starts with me, you know. And gotta do a better job. We can't have that. That's too easy, you know. That they don't have us outnumbered. They didn't have a well-designed, you know, play on on that. You know, they didn't get us. We just, you know, we that's easy for me to say. I don't want to discredit, you know, the guy that for them, but man, we gotta be a hell of a lot better than that. Too easy, and now now the quarterback, you know, is moved off his spot, and we were open for a second until we weren't, and they slid under in zone comforts there. So got to be better. That one's protection, and then the other's a blitz reliever, and the the backs got to we got to execute. We had a mental layer there; it doesn't get his head back. We have basically two on one. The receiver's blocking the the corner, and the running back got to get his head back right now. We're open. There's no defender with him, and he's going to run for a little bit, if we can cover up, you know, the corner. But he doesn't turn around, and the ball goes right to them as a result. So, better execution, man. We got to do a better job coaching that execution. You know, why run the play if you're not going to get your head back? And so, if that's what we're doing on on on tape and on the field, man, then that's what we're, you know, that's what we're allowing, so we got to do a better job as a staff.
On performance of the Oklahoma Defense
Again, I said when I started, you know, proud of the guys, man. They did what they were asked to do over and how they responded. Again, three turnovers in the first half, and they give up three points, knocked them backwards several drives. I don't know exactly what it looked like. The longest drive of the day was 53 yards, and that's hard to do. That's a year ago. That's you know, 910 win team, and they'll do the same this year. That's super super well coached. They're very thoughtful. They put a lot of pressure on you, and you know the schemes are good, and got some good players, and against anybody, that's that's a great day. You know, 25% conversion rate on third and fourth down on the day. Critical fourth down stop right there at the end to you know basically end the game, and again 1.8 yards a carry, and we did it with several starters out, and so there's a lot of pressure on those guys, even without a complementing offense. You know, that's a lot of pressure without that, and guys did a really good job. Lot to learn from. Proud of the effort. Proud of the toughness. Glad we you know came out of the second half and start the start the third quarter and got a stop on D and put together a nice drive. And Isaiah Centenia had over 100 yards. And like I said, you know John completed I think 76 percent of his passes that he did throw, and did some good things there, but we got a lot of work to do. You know, I don't want to minimize winning, and never will do that. But always keep it in its proper place, you know, as well. And so we got a lot of, like I said, we got a lot of work to do. Have a chance to go to Athens and compete.
On how the team feels after that win
It don't feel like a loss in the locker room. But our guys, you know, there's nobody overly excited. You know, a lot of guys are exhausted, and both physically and mentally. And then, you know, guys that know that we got work to do. You know, we got to play better. We got to coach better. Got to play better and put our guys in a better position to be successful. Figure it out. What what can we do well? And so, but winning don't feel like losing, and losing don't feel like winning. But I will keep it in its proper place.
On the expectation for the OU offense
Yeah, I expect it. I expect more. We got to be. We got to be a lot better than that. That's not. That can't be the product, you know. So we got. We got a lot of work to do there. But figuring out, you know, a way to win, and even again, I'm not going to minimize it. If it happened, it was good. You know, we needed two first downs there at the end, and we got them. We were able to execute and do the things that we needed to do, you know, in the second half to win, and you know, wasn't pretty by any stretch. And again, I I don't even like saying that, but there were some good plays there. Some individuals, Rocky and Hayden and Isaiah, and a couple good tough runs. And again, John made you know some good decisions and throwing the ball in the second half, and you know other than those again those two turnovers that one one you know certainly had a part in, but so do guys around him too. Both of them, you know we got to be better around him too. So we had a great week of practice, and that didn't do anything for anybody. But for me, our our mindset, our mentality, our humility, the toughness that we've shown-you know-to be able to, you know, try to quiet the noise and put their heads down and let's get better. And we got to get better collectively as a team, and we got to play better complementary football. Point blank.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Everything Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said after 14-6 win
