Blatant Homerism: Oklahoma's complementary angles
In an ideal world, Brent Venables wants to see the Oklahoma Sooners play complementary football – as opposed to compensatory football.
OU’s head coach said as much in a recent interview when college football opinionator Josh Pate asked him for one wish for his team to be guaranteed in 2025. But what does that mean?
Complementary football is an annoyingly squishy term that is currently hot with football commentators and coaches. Broadly speaking, it refers to a level of synergy on a team between the three phases of offense, defense and special teams – how well each unit supports the others. Good special teams play, for example, can create advantages in field position for offenses and defenses to exploit, thus leading to a virtuous cycle.
The ultimate version of complementary football would consist of a team excelling in all facets of the game. A more realistic version of complementary football involves identifying paths to maximize a team’s potential by accepting it has different strengths and deficiencies. But in application, it seems complementary football has come to describe the playing style of teams that build their identities around defense and special teams while showing no capacity to score points with proficiency.
Notably, the Wikipedia entry for complementary football classifies Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and his son Brian as “proponents of the theory.”
Hopefully, Venables doesn’t want to emulate Ferentz’s Hawkeyes, who play the lowest-margin brand of football known to humankind. Let’s assume, instead, that complementary football in Venables’ mind relates more to an integrated picture of how his team can win games.
Venables’ lengthy track record as a defensive coordinator shows his philosophy revolves around gearing up to stop the run and creating negative plays, so his units consistently perform well in advanced metrics based on success rates. Last season, for instance, OU ranked fifth nationally in defensive success rate, buoyed by particularly strong performance against the run and on standard downs. The pass rush also showed out with high rates of sacks and pressures in passing situations.
That level of aggressiveness means accepting a higher risk of allowing big plays. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that the OU D ranked 84th in marginal explosiveness a year ago. That’s not uncommon for Venables’ defenses, historically speaking.
Typically, coaches who play that style of defense pair it with an equally aggressive mindset on offense. As an example, when Art Briles had Baylor scoring points in bunches in the early 2010s, the Bears blitzed like crazy on defense and emphasized going for broke in most situations. Briles rightfully felt confident his squad was going to come out ahead in a shootout.
OU’s offense was excruciatingly bad last season, to the point that teasing out any kind of identity to complement the D is impossible. We’re talking about the definition of a compensatory relationship – the offense rarely contributed to a win in a meaningful way.
Given Venables’ fondness for high-impact plays on defense, it would make sense if he was willing to accept a boom-or-bust mentality on the other side of the ball. In 2024, the OU offense busted routinely; the booms didn’t come very often. The Sooners had one of the lowest rates in the country of plays of 20 yards or more at about 4% of their snaps. They also ranked 117th overall in marginal explosiveness on O.
In contrast, new OU offensive coordinator Be Arbuckle had the Washington State Cougars popping off plenty last year. About 9% of their plays gained 20 yards or more, which was good for eighth in the country. Additionally, the Cougs ranked 28th nationally in marginal explosiveness.
Even better, Arbuckle is bringing protege John Mateer with him from Wazzu to quarterback OU in ‘25. Mateer ranked seventh in the country at nine yards per pass attempt last year, which is a crude measure of explosiveness. At roughly 13%, the Cougs had one of the top rates in the country of pass attempts to gain at least 20 yards. Mateer can generate big plays with his legs, too: Excluding sacks, he averaged seven yards per rush and gained at least 10 yards on more than 20% of his carries.
Of course, ramping up the explosiveness on offense means Mateer has the goods to level up to an SEC-level schedule. It also remains to be seen if the skill positions have been upgraded enough to capitalize on what the new QB brings to the table.
In sum, beggars can’t be choosers: Venables would undoubtedly settle for competence on O over last season’s debacle – although competence alone may not help him see the 2026 season on the OU sidelines. But if the Sooners start hitting on big offensive plays this fall, the synergy with the other side of the ball should act as a force multiplier for the squad in ‘25.
Final Four picks
Basketball junkies are rightfully rejoicing over the fact that the four top-seeded teams are the only ones left in this year’s NCAA tournament. Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston played the best basketball in all the land this season. In theory, that sets up three titanic games this weekend.
Saturday’s undercard features the top two squads in the SEC. Two weeks ago, it appeared as though Florida had nudged ahead of Auburn as the conference’s best team. Aside from beating the Tigers in the Jungle in their only matchup this year, the Gators have won 10 straight games. Their up-and-down performances in the Big Dance indicate they’re vulnerable, though, and Auburn looks more buttoned up to this point. Freshman Tahaad Pettiford gives Bruce Pearl’s team a particularly troublesome X factor for Auburn’s opponents. Call it a hunch: The Tigers pull off the minor upset.
The nightcap on Saturday feels like the true national championship. While Duke has the most complete team, Houston’s rugged physicality makes playing the Cougars an ordeal for even the best teams. If the officials are letting a lot of contact go, UH would have its best shot to drag the Blue Devils into the muck for 40 minutes. It doesn’t hurt that playing in San Antonio is close to a home game for the Cougs, either. Duke does have a hidden advantage in this matchup: The Blue Devils’ length on the perimeter will probably give UH’s normal-sized backcourt fits. Given that the Cougs generate so much of their offense on three-point shots and mid-range jumpers, it’s hard to see a better outcome for UH than playing the Dukies close.
That should position Duke to roll in the title game on Monday night and cut down the nets.