The Sooners just shut down No. 23 Missouri 17-6 in Norman, holding the Tigers to just 221 total yards and never letting them sniff the end zone all afternoon. The scoreline was modest, the yardage limited, and the style far from flashy. It wasn’t going to wow anyone. But for Brent Venables, who’s spent three years trying to rebuild this program in his image after taking over from Lincoln Riley, this was exactly the kind of football he wants Oklahoma playing. 

“They’re just grimy,” Venables said after the game, and you could tell he meant it as the highest compliment. “It’s a grimy group of guys, and that’s the way I love it. They’ve got a relentless mindset, incredible intensity, and they’re together—you can feel it. They know how to play together, and that really personifies this football team. It’s not pretty, but this is not a beauty contest. This is football.”

That word, ‘grimy,’ captured everything about how Oklahoma won this game. The offense managed just 276 total yards. Isaiah Sategna turned a short catch into an 87-yard touchdown on Oklahoma’s second play after Peyton Bowen blocked a Missouri field goal. And Mateer hit Javonnie Gibson for an 8-yard score to make it 14-3 before halftime. That was it for the offense. Three scores total, two through the air and one field goal, but it was more than enough.​

Brent Venables didn’t stop there. When asked about his team’s mindset moving forward, he leaned into the culture he’s been building since day one: “They’re hungry, not satisfied,” Venables said. “They know that we haven’t done anything. We’re 9-2 now, and that’s still, again, this is Oklahoma. This stadium and this building and the championships that are represented here—27 seasons of 11-plus wins—so incredibly high standards and expectations, and our guys want some of that. They want to be one of the people at the table.” 

That reference to Oklahoma’s history hit at the heart of what Brent Venables is trying to restore. The Sooners have won a lot of games over the past few decades. But the Riley era left a specific kind of scar. Riley gave OU a reputation for lighting up scoreboards in the regular season and then getting embarrassed by physical, defensive-minded teams when it mattered most. Brent Venables is flipping that script entirely, and Saturday’s game was the clearest example yet.​​

The defensive performance against Missouri was absolutely suffocating. The Sooners held the Tigers to 221 total yards and sacked quarterback Drew Pyne four times. They also forced constant pressure that made it impossible for Missouri to establish any kind of rhythm. Oklahoma secondary after defensive back Reggie Powers III was ejected for targeting in the third quarter. But instead of collapsing, the defense stepped up even harder. Jacobe Johnson intercepted Pyne on the very next play after Powers’ ejection to kill Missouri’s momentum and keep the Sooners in control. 

Oklahoma’s defense currently ranks 7th nationally in points allowed per game at just 13.4 and has been the foundation of everything this team has accomplished in 2025. This is the complete opposite of the Lincoln Riley era. “Grimy” might not be the most glamorous nickname for a football team. But in Brent Venables’ world, it’s the highest praise you can get. And after years of watching Oklahoma try to outscore everyone and fall short when the lights got brightest, maybe grimy is exactly what the Sooners need to be.​

Venables refuses to let OU rest on defense alone

For all the praise Venables heaped on his defense and the “grimy” mentality that’s taken hold of this team, he didn’t sugarcoat where Oklahoma still needs to improve. “Offensively, we’ve got to be better. There’s more there. We missed some opportunities to stay on schedule. We’ll learn from those,” Venables said after the Missouri win. 

The Sooners managed just 276 total yards against the Tigers. And while the defense carried them to victory, Venables knows you can’t rely on 17-6 slugfests every week, especially with LSU coming to Norman next Saturday. Oklahoma’s offense has been inconsistent all season. They’ve struggled to establish any kind of rhythm against better defenses. And Venables has been coaching them hard in practice to try to unlock the potential he knows is there. 

But Venables made it clear that nobody’s satisfied with just being 9-2, even if that’s a massive improvement from where this program was a year ago. “And again, I told the team we were 8-2 last week, we’re 9-2 this week. And I’m proud of our guys for a body of work and a relentless commitment. But nobody’s handing out trophies. There’s no badge of honor other than playing the game a certain way,” he said. That’s the mentality that has defined Venables’ entire tenure. He’s not interested in moral victories or style points, just results and the process that leads to them. He knows the offense has to find another gear if Oklahoma’s going to survive what’s left of their brutal schedule. And he’s not about to let them coast on what the defense is doing.