Why Oklahoma HC Brent Venables Says Players Are Not to Blame For Poor Rushing Attack

The Sooners have only rushed for 732 total yards to this point and 3.4 yards per carry

Oklahoma Sooners running back Jovantae Barnes (2) is brought down by Texas Longhorns linebacker Colin Simmons, bottom, linebacker Liona Lefau (18), left, and defensive lineman Jermayne Lole (99) during the Red River Rivalry college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Texas one 34-3. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Through six games, Oklahoma’s rushing offense ranks last in the Southeastern Conference in both rushing yards (732) and yards per attempt (3.4)

“That's not their [players’] fault,” Venables said Wednesday during a press conference. “We’ve got to make better decisions. and they're easy decisions. They're not complicated. We had, again, several drive starters that were really, really good and second down plays that were really good as well.”

Venables considered the team’s 89-yard rushing performance against No. 1 Texas one of the Sooners’ better games in that category. For reference, the Longhorns allowed Michigan, a team that has accrued over 1,100 rushing yards this season, to run for only 80 yards on Sept. 7.

“I think this was one of our best games. I consider who we're playing, and again, there are several plays that were there if we hand the ball off, we’re gonna get substantial yards, and so I put that in, too,” Venables said.

Remove quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr., and the Sooners only have 466 rushing yards this season. OU’s backs have only had blinks of success this year, one of those being freshman Taylor Tatum, who was the No. 1-ranked RB recruit in America coming out of high school last spring. Tatum erupted for 66 yards in the first game of the season and only OU blowout this year, a 51-3 win over Temple on opening night. In his debut, the Longview, Texas native recorded a 19-yard and a 35-yard run on the same drive. His 6.7 yards per attempt lead the team.

“We haven't made a lot of second and third level guys miss. Taylor Tatum had a nice run [against Texas]. He had poor footwork on the run, and poor angle where he initially started to run the football,” Venables said. “And then we fumbled the ball after a [13] yard gain there.”

On his first carry of the game and late in the second quarter of a three-score football game, Tatum surrendered his first turnover of the season after accruing the largest ground gain of the day.

Meanwhile, Jovantae Barnes, who has led the team to this point with 237 yards on 71 attempts, had a frustrating day. With 38 yards on 14 carries, Barnes only picked up 2.7 yards per attempt, short, even, of his season average of 3.3 yards. Regardless, Venables insisted it was the team’s best example of execution to this point.

“And that was one of the runs that was probably, despite the fumble, that you're most critical of. Hey, we got a better footwork, better angle, better launching point as far as where, what's the aiming point here, who are we following? But he made something, he was able to make something out of it until the end, but I thought that was, again, our best game when it comes to doing the things that we asked them to do.”

It’s hard to imagine a bleaker start. With exception to a few Hawkins scrambles and a couple Tatum handoffs, this unit has been uninspiring. As with the receiving corps’ woes, injury isn’t blameless. Nine different offensive linemen have started this season and Saturday was the first time the same five started consecutive games as several players have missed time throughout the year and some, like Geiran Hatchett, will not return.

If there is a silver lining, it is that Venables and DeMarco Murray have agreed to let talent in the running back room develop. Tatum returned to the game in the second half and recorded another carry in the fourth quarter. He told Murray, “Hey man, don’t bury this kid.”

“He's [Tatum] got tremendous talent,” Venables said, “Those are terrible timing, terrible things to have happen. That's how you lose games. But there's too much talent. He's an incredibly competitive kid. He's tough minded. He's a guy that bounces back quickly through adversity and a guy that we completely believe in.”

The Sooners host South Carolina for their first true road game in four weeks Saturday at 11:45 a.m.