NORMAN — If there was one play that summed up Oklahoma's offensive line struggles against Houston, it came in the fourth quarter.

With 46 seconds to go and the Sooners leading by four, the Sooners got in victory formation. But center Joshua Bates got into an altercation with a Houston player, and it resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that pushed the Sooners back 15 yards. Most importantly, it stopped the clock, which made Luke Elzinga come out to punt the ball back to Houston with 34 seconds to go.

The Sooners' defense made one last stop to seal the win, but the penalty gave the Cougars another chance to win the game. Bates addressed the team after the game for his mistake.

"I need to be way better in that moment," Bates said. "I have dealt with it with my team. I have apologized to the team and my number one thing is to make sure I gain the respect of my teammates back. And that’s something I’m still down about. It’s something that I cannot do in that moment. Emotions got to me. That stuff will never happen again.

"I’ve apologized to the team. I’ve apologized to the coaches. I made it clear I’ll do anything I can to fix that mistake and move on."

That play was an encapsulation of the Sooners' struggles on offense. The Sooners gained just 249 yards of offense while averaging just 2.6 yards per carry, failing to score on their final eight drives. Bates, making his first career start, played all 62 snaps with the center position ravaged my injuries.

But Venables' message during his Tuesday press conference was for the team to move forward, and that begins with Bates.

“I think what's most important for me personally is earning the trust of the coaches back, and I trust Josh, don't get me wrong," Venables said. "But that was a tough moment to watch under the circumstances any time. That doesn't represent me, and it certainly doesn't represent this program, and I know his teammates respect him because Josh comes to work, he likes to work, he loves practice. He'll take every rep in practice if you allow him. So, I don't think that Josh will do anything other than work, and that's it.

"In the locker room, that's what it's all about. He owned it immediately, felt terrible, and still doesn't take it back but at the same time, he's an emotional guy that was going to bat for his quarterback and lost his cool, so we're not going to make it more than it needs to be. We're talking about it because you brought it up, but we're moving forward, you know. His moving forward and earning the respect back from everybody is just go to work.”

After Jake Roberts' early second-quarter touchdown, only two of OU's final eight drives went longer than 16 yards. One of those ended in Jackson Arnold's first interception of the season, when he appeared to under throw Deion Burks near the end zone during the third quarter.

Burks took the blame during Monday's availability.

"Honestly, it was a route where I had a little stem outside post, pretty much Jackson threw the ball on the flight I was supposed to be on," Burks said. "I went up the field thinking it was deeper. So I take the blame for that pick."

Venables mentioned that the hope is to involve the true freshman offensive lineman more moving forward. Pierre-Louis didn't arrive until the summer and has been taking reps with the offense, though there's still a significant learning curve.

Carter, who was also a summer enrollee, praised Pierre-Louis' effort to get caught up.

"He’s all-in with what he’s doing, big on the playbook," Carter said. "Coming here in June, you’re set back from the guys that come in during January. He’s trying to take that bigger step in knowing the playbook so he can move fast like he did in high school."

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