With Oklahoma's Disappointing End to 2024, the Stage is Set for a Pivotal Offseason for Brent Venables

The Sooners threw away a two-score lead against Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl to finish with a losing season for the second time in three years.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

FORT WORTH — None of the players who took the field in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday saw Navy’s first victory over Oklahoma.

That came in 1965, well before any of the participants arrived. 

But the Midshipmen’s 21-20 win at Amon G. Carter Stadium to close the 2024 season looked all too familiar to those standing on the Sooners’ sideline.

The defeat clinched Oklahoma’s second losing season in three years under Brent Venables. 

“Just disappointed. Obviously, everything falls on me,” Venables said after the loss. “… Just got to be a lot better.” 

OU (6-7) threw away a 14-0 lead, and struggled to find any offensive rhythm at the first sign of adversity. 

That’s been a hallmark of Oklahoma’s 2024 team. 

Venables’ team shot itself in the foot over and over against Navy (10-3).

That’s been a hallmark of the program over the past three years. 

OU receivers dropped seven passes, offering little help to true freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr., whose 56-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was negated by a holding flag on Febechi Nwaiwu. 

Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. finished 28-for-43 passing for 247 yards and two scores, also adding 61 rushing yards on 17 carries against Navy. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I thought it was the right call,” Venables said. “Looking at it, it was the right call. And he's got to work on the fundamentals on it to be a little cleaner, get the pads square so we don't expose ourselves there.”

Mistakes, the inability to to play complementary football and failure to control games have become trends, not aberrations, in Venables’ three years at the helm in Norman. 

And now OU just has one offseason with new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, new quarterback John Mateer and transfer additions that are mostly stepping up from the FCS level to fix the offense and right the ship.

“If we’re dropping it, or not converting fourth down, we’re missing field goals or we’re giving up explosive runs, everything falls at my feet,” Venables said. “So, really disappointed in myself. I need to be a lot better. I think that goes without saying. You don’t go 6-7 and you did all these things right.”

The 2024 Sooners were infamously plagued by injuries on offense. 

Freshman receivers were thrust into huge roles after Jayden Gibson went down in preseason camp, Andrel Anthony and Nic Anderson failed to ever truly get healthy and Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks were lost to other injuries during the season. 

Similarly, it took half the year for the offensive line to get healthy and find any consistency. 

“We’ve got a lot of experience coming back,” Venables said. “We know the reasons — we had a lot of guys that had an opportunity this year that happened because of guys not being available. I think we gained valuable experience that will pay off. My expectation is that it’ll pay off. 

“But we’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’ve got a great group of guys coming back. A great foundation coming back, and we’ve recruited well.”

That’s a pretty big bet by Venables — one that will decide the direction of the program over the next 12 months. 

Those young pieces helped the Sooners post their second-highest total yardage output, 433 yards, of the season in the Armed Forces Bowl. 

But Zion Ragins and Zion Kearney each dropped a pair of passes, and the offensive line was unable to get push on Navy on two fourth downs of less than 2 yards. 

Those are players Oklahoma is going to rely on in 2025 against a schedule that will be the same in SEC play and add Michigan as a marquee non-conference bout. 

Venables said he expects a couple more personnel changes via the portal. Perhaps he’s too far in to change course now, but the handful of portal additions yet to be made aren’t going to drastically change the face of the 2025 roster from what it looks like today — something Venables is at peace with. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get back on that in January, and I’m excited for that and what our next team has the potential to become,” Venables said. “With the guys coming back and the guys that we’ve recruited, I’m really excited about the foundation.”

Oklahoma Sooners running back Gavin Sawchuk dropped a pass late in the Armed Forces Bowl against Navy. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Venables is now 22-17 at Oklahoma. He’s 12-14 in conference play, which includes a 10-8 record in the Big 12 alongside this year’s 2-6 mark in the SEC, and he’s yet to finish the season with a bowl triumph. 

The Armed Forces Bowl was never going to truly change OU’s 2024 season. 

Had the Sooners held onto their early lead and won, finishing 7-6 wasn’t going to wipe away the disappointment of the program’s first ride through the Southeastern Conference. 

But it was a perfect encapsulation of the year at large. 

And Venables will hope it’s not a sign of more disappointment to come in 2025, for if it is, it could be his last season in charge at Oklahoma. 

“Everybody’s disappointed and embarrassed and all of that,” he said. “I’m not embarrassed by the fight, the commitment, the work, the belief, the strain, the sacrifice, all the things these guys have represented. I’m not, in any way shape or form, embarrassed by that. 

“This is a game of performance. This is a game of doing. And we fell well short of that this year.”