NORMAN — Brent Venables took a moment to address the question.

At his Tuesday press conference, the Oklahoma coach was asked whether or not he saw the Sooners’ defense being hurt by the team’s lack of offensive success and if that played a role in him pulling the trigger on firing offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and elevating Jason Witten to interim offensive coordinator.

After about three seconds that felt much longer, Venables finally answered.

“Yes,” he said matter of factly.

Venables certainly wasn’t done answering but that was the most important part, an admission that the offensive woes bleeding over to the rest of the team made a change not only palatable but important.

He began the rest of his answer by justifying his belief that the offense would improve in 2026 after last season’s struggles.

“As hard and difficult of a decision as that was, we again, I know nobody wants me to say this, but from 2024 to 2025, we got better in 24 categories, and it was incremental improvement,” Venables said. “OK, incremental. It was enough for us to combine with the rest of our team to go to the playoffs, but at the same time, in closed-door meetings, it was, ‘It can’t look like this next year, and everything stays the same, and this ain’t going to be good enough, and it’s got to be more than good enough.’”

Venables talked about that need for progress, while also touting his belief that progress was possible, before the season.

“At the end of the day, for us to be who we want to be, the vision that we have, we have to run the ball a hell of a lot better than we have the past couple of years,” Venables said during SEC Media Days in July. “... It puts tremendous pressure on every part of your team when you can’t consistently run the football.”

When Arbuckle was fired, the Sooners were averaging just 106.8 yards per game on the ground — 128th in FBS.

Oklahoma ran for 144 yards against Florida, which is better for sure, but it wasn’t just about the raw number.

The Sooners had drives that lasted 7:11 and 12:45.

Venables could feel the defense getting weary, and it showed up on the field in the loss to South Carolina, where Oklahoma struggled with uncharacteristic missed tackles.

“The players, they see everything, not necessarily always listening, but they watch everything, and what you do is more powerful than what you say many times,” Venables said. “I’m an aggressive guy. I’m patient at times, but I also have to be in this role, you have to be more patient than not patient., and whatever that means, in finding the right blend.

“But I do feel like, as I said, from a timing standpoint, never a good time to make those types of decisions, but it was the right time. I did have a peace about that, and it was all about what is best for the team.”

Monday night, OU linebacker Owen Heinecke said he noticed the change more Sunday than he did Saturday. 

“Felt good, despite getting back at 4 a.m.,” Heinecke said. “It was all good, all things considered.”