Oklahoma Football: Why Is Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables Not Fired Yet?

There have been numerous bad tastes left in our mouths from the 48-28 WVU shellacking.

True, we did not have NFL draft picks Malcolm Kelly, Reggie Smith, and proven All Big-12 players DeMarco Murray and DeMarcus Granger—but getting torched by Pat White was inexcusable.

Every season we have the same predictable defense, and we always try to shut down the run, but our secondary has been horrendous.

Let's start from the beginning.

2004 Season: USC, 55-19

We got outplayed on both ends.  However, Brent Venables gets the blame for getting dominated, and not only on the line—the secondary was torched all day!

2005: UCLA, 41-24

We stopped the run.  However, we had the same problems in the secondary.  This game just highlights how our secondary is the problem.

2006: Oregon, 34-33

Let's not even talk about Boise State.  We lost to Oregon in a game that deserved to be ours.  However, we let Oregon throw for over 300 yards.  They made plays that our secondary was just unprepared for.

2007: Texas Tech, 34-27

Again, our secondary broke down.  I don't have much to say about this loss, except that our secondary was torched.

Sooner fans keep repeating each year how our secondary breaks down and allows the big play.  I just don't understand how these plays happened when we have Reggie Smith, who was the top recruit in the South.

It's all about the defensive scheme, and Mike Stoops was stellar at being unpredictable.  We were ranked 59th in the country in pass defense.  Ever since Mike Stoops left, we just haven't been able to seal the deal.

It's time to fire Brent Venables, or at least demote him to run defense.  I admit that I have been very impressed with his run defense schemes, but there are just too many loopholes to allow so many passing breakdowns to happen.