Oklahoma football head coach Brent Venables had some strong words about how his defense played last season.

With spring camp starting on Wednesday for the Sooners, Venables spoke with reporters on Monday. One of the things he harped on was his urge for Oklahoma's defense to improve drastically from its performance in 2022.

As reported by OU beat writer Eric Bailey, Venables said, “We have to play great defense at the point of attack. We got bullied around and beat up too much…we got to get better as coaches and players.”

Oklahoma's defense ranked 122nd out of 131 schools in total defense last season, allowing 461 yards per game. That is a far cry from his typical powerhouse defenses from his 10 seasons as defensive coordinator at Clemson, where he helped the Tigers win two national championships.

In his final season as DC with Clemson in 2021, the Tigers ranked sixth in total defense, allowing 298.5 total yards per game.

Last season, Venables' first at the helm for Oklahoma, the Sooners suffered their first losing season since 1998 and just their fourth since joining the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

With a move to the SEC looming in 2024, a bottom-half defense, let alone a bottom-ten defense in the country, will not bode well for Oklahoma. Venables surely knows this and knows that there is little time to beat around the bush when it comes to his defense.

Brent Venables and Oklahoma football will look to vastly improve on the defensive side of the ball in 2023. The good news is, it can't get much worse than 2022.