NORMAN — Brent Venables chuckled a bit at the question.
About 12 minutes into a barrage of questions about the decision to fire Seth Littrell, to retain and promote Joe Jon Finley and to elevate Kevin Johns, Venables finally got a respite.
He was asked about Ole Miss’ defensive line.
The chuckle might’ve been a bit along the lines of The Simpsons” character Ralph Wiggum’s, preceding the declaration “I’m in danger.”
“It’s the whole defense,” Venables said. “We’ve played some really, really good defenses. I’m not sure there’s been a season where a team has faced this many (good defenses) at Oklahoma. That’s not an excuse, that’s just what the group of players are dealing with right now.”
The Sooners (4-3, 1-3 SEC) will take on No. 18 Ole Miss at 11 a.m. Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi.
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Venables has talked plenty about the state of the Sooners’ offensive line, but Tuesday he admitted more than he had previously about where the group stood.
“That’s been a group that we’ve fallen short,” Venables said. “In regards to the transfer guys, they’ve only been here for a few months. So when you gotta rely on a majority of those guys, you can lack some continuity and the chemistry and the things we’re talking about that enable you to be able to execute at a high level.”
Venables and Bill Bedenbaugh added plenty to the group in the offseason — Spencer Brown from Michigan State, Geirean Hatchett from Washington, Branson Hickman from SMU, Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas, and Michael Tarquin from USC.
Hatchett started the opener but was lost for the season in that game. Brown has played in every game, though mostly on special teams.
Hickman started four games but has been replaced by Troy Everett in the starting lineup. Nwaiwu and Tarquin have started every game but neither have consistently excelled.
“We’ve probably missed on some guys,” Venables said, talking about not only the current group but collectively during his more than two seasons as head coach. “Several years ago, we didn’t have this amazing group of backups that were ready when guys left. You want to build that, if you’re building that appropriately.”
Not that it was all on the offensive line, but the Sooners gave up nine sacks — their most since the NCAA started recording the stat in 2000. OU has surrendered 29 sacks this season — next-to-last among 133 FBS teams.
They allowed just 20 sacks all of last season and could challenge the program-worst total of 41 surrendered in 2015.
More: OU football stock report: How low did Sooners’ OL grade after loss to South Carolina?
The Sooners have the No. 114 rushing offense — averaging just 112.1 yards per game on the ground.
“We’ve been an abomination on offense this year,” Venables said.
Ole Miss is No. 13 nationally in total defense, leads the nation in rush defense (allowing just 66.6 yards per game), and is tied for seventh in sacks with 3.43 per game.
“We’re not winning a lot of matchups,” Venables said. “We’re losing a lot of matchups. There’s not a margin for error with the guys that we’re playing. But we gotta help ’em do things they can do. … Right now, we’re not very good at any spot.”
Venables or Bedenbaugh don’t appear to be eager — or at least willing — to throw freshmen like Eugene Brooks or Eddy Pierre-Louis in, so the personnel likely won’t change much.
“You’re trying to baptize guys, get them better,” Venables said when asked how the group could improve moving forward. “Just being better at the fundamentals, becoming more aggressive and physical, another week of practice and the cohesion, the continuity gives guys a chance to improve.
“You don’t reinvent the wheel in a week’s period of time. You just get better at the basics, and we’ve got to get a lot better. That’s where the focus is, is make an improvement and put guys in a position to help them have some success too.”
OU at Ole Miss
KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss. (ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football coach Brent Venables says OL has ‘fallen short’
