One of the major reasons Brent Venables was the popular choice to replace Lincoln Riley as the 23rd head coach in Oklahoma football history was because of how dreadfully bad the Sooner defense had become on Riley's watch.
While Venables may be under some fire for not winning enough games by historical Oklahoma standards in his three seasons as head coach, you can certainly check the box "job well done" concerning the defense and the improvement from what it was when Venables arrived back on the scene in Norman in December 2021.
Sooners' defense shows obvious improvement under Brent Venables
The much-maligned Oklahoma defense has gotten a little better every season under Venables' scrutinizing eye.