Sooner Sports Talk With Brent Venables - Sooners Get Set For UCF
Toby and Ted look back on the bye week and preview UCF with Sooner Head Football Caoch Brent Venables
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"Sooner Sports Talk," the weekly radio show featuring Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, aired Monday night live from Rudy's BBQ in Norman.
In the next to last segment, which begins at the 28:13 mark, Venables spoke about this week's matchup with UCF.
"They're the No. 1 offense in our conference, top five in the country offensively," Venables said of UCF. "No. 1 rushing offense in our conference, top five in the country rushing the football."
Venables raved about UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who is said to getting closer to 100 percent.
"I really like their quarterback, super explosive," Venables said. "He's missed the last several games and they haven't played as well as a result. Take anybody's starting quarterback out and it's going to be a tough chore. He's back.
"They've got really fast skill players. Their backs and receivers can fly. They've got a long, athletic defense. They play with great effort. They play with a lot of belief. I know the last couple weeks have been tough. Kansas is another top five offense in the country and they can score at will. I know (Kansas) lost the game, but they average 10 yards per play against Oklahoma State. I said that when I first came, they're doing something different that's making it hard on people. But that's next week."
Venables then continued about UCF.
"Gus (Malzahn) is a National Championship coach," he said. "He's got a tremendous pedigree, great offensive mind. They've done a really good job in the transfer portal. They've recruited well at Central Florida. Played in a lot of big moments. They're a physical football team. I like their style. They're aggressive. That quarterback, he's so fast and explosive. Coach (Jeff) Lebby coached him at Ole Miss. Dillon played there for a year under Coach Malzahn as well. He'll be the first one to tell you it's not about him. This is the ultimate team game."
Venables must have access to advanced stats because the following is something I'm not sure I've seen publicly.
"This is going to be another great challenge between their tempo and ability to run the ball in different ways," Venables said. "Their trick percentage of trick plays is top two in the country. Next two weeks, Kansas and UCF have the most deceptive plays in college football percentage wise vs. number of plays they run offensively. I think they're close to 9 percent of their plays is some kind of deception. They take advantage of poor discipline, bad eyes, bad fundamentals and lack of communication. They're going to force you to defend every patch of grass on the field. They have a lot of option principles as well as a designed quarterback run game. They also have screen game and RPO game. It requires bodies. You can't just stop the run game. They're reading all of it. They count numbers fast and force you to play with an option mentality defensively. That makes you vulnerable to the throw game.
Venables that singled out another UCF player to watch.
"They've got really fast guys. Running back No. 0 (Johnny Richardson) can absolutely fly. He runs really well in between the tackles and runs with great pace behind the ball. They've got excellent receivers outside."
Asked how Plumlee is different than Timmy McClain, Venables said it would be his decisiveness and effectiveness as a runner. He compared defending Plumlee to defending option teams.
"Plumlee can flat fly. You can have great angles on him and he'll outrun everybody. I love that challenge. I've always loved triple option, getting ready for those teams because the margin for error is none. You screw up the smallest thing and they've got you on your heels."
Venables concluded by saying some elements of UCF are similar to SMU, though SMU passes the ball a lot more. He noted SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee played quarterback for Malzahn in high school and also coached with him at Auburn.
