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Brent Venables is in just his third year as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners after Lincoln Riley bolted for USC.
But fans are already turning on Venables after a rough first two-and-a-half seasons and one of the worst starts to a football game we’ve ever seen against South Carolina.
The Sooners welcomed the Gamecocks to Norman on Saturday hoping to bounce back from a butt-kicking in the Red River Rivalry against Texas a week ago. But opening five minutes of the game went about as bad as you could possibly imagine.
Fam, South Carolina has only run five plays on offense. Did Texas break Oklahoma for good cause sheeeesh. @TheSlanderU called it on their podcast. South Carolina’s defense is vicious. pic.twitter.com/gzHOcCfTTp
— Evan Barnes (@evan_b) October 19, 2024
Oklahoma received the opening kick of the game. Freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. then threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage.
The Gamecocks marched right down the field field in five plays to make it 7-0. On the ensuing possession, Hawkins Jr. fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown to make it 14-0.
But wait, there’s more!
On the Sooners’ third possession, Hawkins Jr. threw a pick-six to put South Carolina ahead 21-0 just five minutes into the game.
On the forth possession, Venables finally showed his young quarterback some mercy and benched him in favor of Jackson Arnold, who Hawkins Jr. replaced just a few weeks ago as the starter.
After a 6-7 year in 2022, Venables appeared to right the ship in year two, going 10-3 with Arnold looking like a potential rising star.
But things have quickly gone south in year three, and Sooners fans are ready for a new head coach.
“Fire Brent Venables and every coach on this staff. They’ve put a f—– joke of a team on the field week in and week out. This is just embarrassing,” one fan tweeted.
“Brent Venables is now responsible for all the failures due to his stubbornness to admit he made a s— hire with his offensive staff. He is now going the way of all the good defensive coaches who can’t cut it as head coaches because they have one track minds,” said another.
Oklahoma has a long and storied history in college football. But if the Sooners don’t figure things out quickly, they risk going the way of Nebraksa in the SEC.