Brent Venables was thrilled after his Oklahoma team upset Alabama football Saturday in Norman. After making his way through throngs of Sooner fans who rushed the field twice on Saturday, the head coach praised his team, which had come in with just one SEC victory on the year.
According to Venables, the upset was the result of his team finally executing the little things.
“Winning never negotiates,” Venables said. “When we’ve taken care of the ball, last two years, we’re 13-0. And when we haven’t this season, we’re 0-5. Took care of the ball, or at least won the turnover margin. We fought our butt off. There have been some games when it has gotten away from us late. But this is a team that has continued to show up, week in and week out.”
The Sooners were able to fully shut down the Alabama offense in the 24-3 win. Jalen Milroe rushed for just seven yards, and threw three interceptions, including a pick six in the second half that put the final nail in the Crimson Tide’s coffin.
Speaking about the game plan, Venables sounded eerily similar to Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea after the Commodores beat Alabama earlier this season.
“Certainly, we wanted to play a shortened game.” Venables said. “A game where there weren’t as many possessions. Alabama is one of the most explosive teams in college football. We wanted to do exactly what we did and really play off of each other.
“Defense controlled the field position. We scored and forced three turnovers, three picks. Put a lot of pressure on them, think we had nine tackles for loss against a really talented offensive line and a fantastic quarterback that is hard to keep bottled up like that.”
On the other side, OU’s run game appeared unstoppable. Quarterback Jackson Arnold led the way, carrying the ball 25 times for 131 yards.
Xavier Robinson also put up 107 yards on 18 carries, scoring two touchdowns along the way.
“Without a doubt, Oklahoma was the most physical football team tonight,” Venables said. “That was the vision, and that’s what we wanted the tape to say. And I think, and again, I’m sitting here beating our chest. But I also wanna, I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize a physically dominant performance.”
Oklahoma returns to action next week at LSU. Alabama will face an Auburn team that is fighting for bowl eligibility in the Iron Bowl.
