With 'No Noticeable Flaws,' Oklahoma Coach Brent Venables Believes Texas is Playing Better Than Anyone

The Longhorns are 5-0 and the top-ranked team in the country as they prepare to play the Sooners at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables and Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is not sugarcoating what kind of team he’s preparing to face this weekend. 

The Sooners play Texas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday inside the Cotton Bowl at Dallas. The Longhorns enter the Red River Rivalry undefeated at 5-0 and as the top-ranked team in college football for the first time since 1984. And they’ve accomplished all this without their starting quarterback, as freshman Arch Manning started the last two games. 

“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge,” Venables said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference. “Texas is playing probably better than anybody in college football right now. Complete football team, no noticeable flaws, and I don’t think they've given up a point in the first quarter all year, and again, just really playing great complementary football.

Quarterback (Quinn Ewers) has been out and Arch Manning has done a fantastic job, no surprise, so they hadn’t missed a beat. But again, our players will be excited to play. This is always one of the premier games, regular-season games in college football, and all the pageantry, excitement, energy, championship game atmosphere. So one our players are really looking forward to it.” 

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Texas reached the top spot in the rankings two weeks ago but was jumped when Alabama took down Georgia in a thriller. But then a week later, Vanderbilt upset the Crimson Tide, prompting the Longhorns to retake the throne for now. 

The Longhorns have outscored opponents 225-35 through five games. Offensively, Texas is averaging 45 points a game. Defensively, Texas has allowed only three touchdowns all season, and only one came in the first half. 

“They've got really good players at every position, but the way they're playing up front, the cohesion, the chemistry, the physicality that they've playing, they kind of lead the way,” Venables said. “From an offensive standpoint, they are just playing really well on both sides. They are top five in the country in virtually every defensive and offensive category.” 

When Venables took over the OU football football program in 2022, its biggest rival was coming off a 5-7 season under first-year coach Steve Sarkisian. That season, though, Texas improved to 8-5 with a 49-0 win over the Sooners. Then last season, Sarkisian’s third leading the Longhorns, they were 12-2, winning the Big 12 title and making the final four-team College Football Playoff. 

“I’m certainly not surprised,” Venables said of Texas’ rapid rise under Sarkisian. “Again, Coach Sarkisian’s a fantastic football coach. Got a really good staff. They have unlimited resources. That's a program that's very similar to ours. It's one of the all-time winningest programs in college football history, so those (poor seasons) are blips on the radar, an aberration, if you will. And so not surprised in any way, shape or form. They're always going to be attractive to top recruits, and the resources they have in their back yard, from a recruit standpoint, facilities, support, all of those things are second to none. They don't take a back seat to anybody."