The No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners lost to the Longhorns 23-6 in the Red River Rivalry, but head coach Brent Venables had a strong message for his team.
“Today was a bad day, and we still have a really good football team,” Venables said in his opening statement to the team after the loss. The coach clarified that he believes the Sooners can bounce back from this setback.
The game didn't go as planned for Oklahoma. The Sooners led 6-3 at halftime but were completely dominated in the second half by Texas. Quarterback John Mateer, who returned just 17 days after hand surgery, struggled with three interceptions.
Before the game, Venables acknowledged the difficulty of the matchup. “To be able to go to Dallas and compete against the preseason No. 1 team in the country… It's going to be a great challenge for us, but something I know our guys are excited about,” he mentioned during his press conference on October 7.
During the Sooners' post-game press conference, Venables didn't sugarcoat what went wrong. “Just didn't deserve to win today,” he told reporters after the game. “Couldn't get off the field on third down in the second half. We lost the turnover battle three to nothing. And that's a recipe for losing”.
But despite the disappointing performance, Venables had complete faith in his team's ability to respond. “We have a chance to still have a heck of a year. And a lot of ball still in front of us right now.”
The coach cited the team's strong leadership as a reason for optimism. “I know how they'll respond, man. We have incredibly strong leadership in the locker room,” Venables said. This is a team that still believes, and this is a team that is still together. “
The loss drops Oklahoma to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the SEC. The Sooners have a tough schedule with games against South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, and LSU.
