Brent Venables answered a question at his weekly Tuesday press conference that, had he taken it a slightly different direction, might have told us more than he wound up telling us.
Too bad.
He was told that his players, as interview subjects, had frequently brought up “a different feel, a different closeness … within the program,” after which he was asked what level does he feel the program has reached in that ongoing cultural process three games into his second season.
Inferred, of course, is the possibility of a comparison, last season to this one, we all wish he’d make.
He didn’t.
“That process never stops,” Venables said. “You’re always building, you’re always nurturing, you’re always protecting, you’re always rehearsing your values, beliefs.”
By the time he was done with it, he’d spoken significantly more about process than progress.
Still, it's a small critique.
Because you know what he didn’t do?
He didn’t try telling anybody things were not what they so clearly are.
That was left to his Bedlam rival, Mike Gundy, who took the media, his own fans and a college football nation for a ride on Monday when intimating the Cowboys faced no major problems two days after falling 33-7 at home to South Alabama, member of the Sun Belt Conference, whose roster of schools makes nobody think of football, but mid-week baseball opponents instead: Texas State, Louisiana-Monroe, Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State, Southern Miss, etc.
“I don’t think we have any majors,” Gundy said.
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