Sooners were dumped by Ole Miss on Saturday and now visit No. 14 Tennessee this week, but after finding all the reasons for defeat, Venables remains upbeat.

Head coach Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners got back in the win column on Saturday, defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road by a final score of 26-7 in Columbia. OU started fast and finished strong in the 19-point win, and they are now 6-1 overall in 2025, including a 2-1 mark in the SEC.

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables shrugged off any concerns that his quarterback's surgically-repaired thumb is affecting his play.

The Sooners head coach had spent 10 years as Clemson defensive coordinator and faced South Carolina, the Tigers’ top rival, several times at Williams-Brice Stadium. So, he knew he would be seeing a rowdy student section with white towels that would be waving and knew he would be hearing the song “Sandstorm” that would be playing.

Expectations were high for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2025. They returned plenty of talent from 2024, they added a new offensive coordinator in Ben Arbuckle who brought productive quarterback John Mateer with him from Washington State,

The Sooners' head coach is confident that college football players will soon have five years of eligibility instead of worrying about the current redshirt rule.