No. 9 Oklahoma beats UTEP 45-13 in Venables' coaching debut

NORMAN, Okla. -- , New Oklahoma coach Brent Venables got emotional when athletic director Joe Castiglione presented him with the game ball and the players loudly celebrated his first career victory as a head coach. Dillon Gabriel passed for two touchdowns and ran for another and No. 9 Oklahoma rolled past UTEP 45-13 on Saturday. Venables was a full-time assistant for the previous 26 years in stints at Kansas State, Oklahoma and Clemson. He took over for the Sooners after Lincoln Riley left to take the Southern California job last December and brought energy and hope to a stunned fanbase. Then came the waiting. “In some ways, it went by really fast in that last nine months, and then in many ways, it seemed like dog years," he said. "It’s like ‘When are we going to get to play a game?’ But everything has its time.” Now, the Sooners have taken a significant step forward.