NORMAN — Turnovers, three-and-outs and, at times, an inability to do anything basic have all continued to plague Brent Venables in his hunt for a decent offense.
To make matters worse, the one side of Oklahoma's team that's worthy of praise, is often times put into bad positions because of their offense. Of the 13 touchdowns given up by OU's defense, Sooner opponents have started their drives from the OU side of the field more times than not.
Despite the lack of an ideal complementary side of the ball, Oklahoma's defense has yet to show signs of cratering. There are no visible signs of a bad attitude among the group.
Much of that can be credited to Todd Bates, who put into words how the OU defense sees itself and its responsibility within the team unit.
"You kind of take on the mentality of a fireman," Bates said on Tuesday, filling in for Venables. "What does a fireman do? Firemen, they run to the fire when things go wrong, when a fire starts when everybody else is running from it."
While there was little hope of Ben Arbuckle's unit making a leap into the elite ranks in 2026, expectations projected Oklahoma to roll out a far more capable offense that was supposed to help the team return to the College Football Playoff.
Instead, the offense has done very little but start fire after fire, save for their season-opening win against a bad UTEP team and some Sooner Magic in the Cotton Bowl.
"They know that they are equipped to put it out. And so that’s the mentality that we try to instill in our guys. In our group, that’s what we hang our hat on," Bates said.
Known for his motivational skills and a penchant for inspirational and creative acronyms, Bates shared that the defense's group text message is dubbed "Firemen."
"It’s a reminder of that mentality that you’re equipped for whatever adversity you may face," Bates said.
The associate head coach pushed the analogy even further. At the drop of a hat, firemen have to rush to their positions and head straight into harm's way without sacrificing their attention to detail.
How many times has the Oklahoma defense been tasked with cleaning up messes the offense leaves for them?
"You’re prepared for it, you’re equipped for it and you just keep plugging away at that and pounding that and believing that," Bates said.
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