Brent Venables didn’t pretend Saturday night was anything other than what it was. “This was a grimy group,” he said early, “and I say that with great great respect.” Oklahoma beat No. 22 Missouri 17 to 6 by leaning into every part of the identity Venables repeats weekly. Nothing about it was flashy, but everything about it was intentional. The Sooners held the SEC’s No. 1 rushing offense to just 65 yards on 32 carries, a staggering 2.0 per attempt, and Venables kept returning to the way his defense owned the second half. His eyes lit up reading from the stat sheet. “Punt, punt, interception, punt, punt, downs, interception.”
The moment that changed the entire afternoon came on an early slant pass to Isaiah Sategna III. Venables didn’t hesitate when asked about it. “It really created a spark…went up 7–3…created momentum and belief.” Sategna caught the throw in stride, split the safeties, and raced 87 yards untouched, turning a grinding game into one suddenly tilted Oklahoma’s way. He finished with just three catches but 109 yards, every one of them critical.
John Mateer delivered exactly what Venables values most. His stat line wasn’t flashy, but his decision making and toughness matched the plan. Mateer went 14 of 30 for 173 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, adding 60 yards on 18 carries. Venables kept underscoring why that mattered. “Everything goes through the quarterback…took care of the ball…that’s a winning formula.” Mateer earned every yard, and more importantly, avoided the mistakes that would have kept Missouri alive.
Oklahoma’s defense, though, made all of that possible. The front adjusted after Missouri’s early success and began controlling the line of scrimmage. “We started knocking the pile backwards…pushed the pile the right way and got things under control,” Venables said. Even the special teams matched the urgency with a blocked field goal that swung the momentum after a timeout chess match between the sidelines. “Huge stop, huge play,” he said, praising a “very defined plan” to attack Missouri’s protection.
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Venables lived every snap and made clear how much that edge matters. “You live and die in every conversion. You live and die in every punt. You live and die in every miss, block or drop ball…we got a really nice cadence and rhythm…belief system, synergy. I think that was a difference maker today.”
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And he made it clear they will need that again soon, saying they have “another great challenge…sitting in front of us here going into you know next weekend.” Oklahoma closes out its regular season next Saturday when it hosts LSU.
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