Where the Sooners may find 8 wins — but, will that save Brent Venables’ job?
Consider this year two in the SEC experiment of re-shaping the expectations of Oklahoma football fans. The question is, will this be Brent Venables’ last year as the king lab rat?
There is little doubt the Oklahoma Sooners will be better than last year. That 2024 offensive line, those bandaged wide receivers watching from the sideline, and an inexperienced but heralded quarterback who became afraid of his shadow, torpedoed any chance of success last year.
A healthy and more experienced O-Line, a wide receiver corps and running back room bolstered by good transfers and a QB (John Mateer) that some have already placed on a Heisman watch list, should change things in 2025.
But the same murder’s row schedule for Oklahoma means they could lose four football games and still be good – maybe good enough to sneak into a playoff. Maybe.
Four losses almost got Barry Switzer fired.
How things have changed.
If Oklahoma wins eight games this year, and I think they will, from where will they come?
Illinois State, Temple and Kent State will be three of them.
Home game wins over Michigan, Auburn and Ole Miss will be three more. That’s six total.
Forget Alabama. That road game you can count as a loss. The Roll Tiders were embarrassed 24-3 last year in Norman (and the game wasn’t that close). They will dig up Bear Bryant’s grave before losing to Oklahoma this year.
And don’t count a win at Knoxville. I know Tennessee’s squad may be in flux. But unless Baker Mayfield has found some remaining eligibility, I don’t see the Sooners finding magic in those orange-checkered end zones in Rocky Top land.
Don’t count LSU in Norman as a win either. Tiger QB Garrett Nussmeier will be the best thrower in the SEC this year (he threw for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2024). Besides, they have OU transfer Nic Anderson on their team now.
That leaves the Texas game, at South Carolina and Missouri at home. Oklahoma must win two of those games to win eight.
The Gamecocks beat the Sooners in Columbia, South Carolina. The fact Venables spent time at Clemson gives USC the ju-ju in that game. And besides, I like Shane Beamer.
I dislike those a-holes in Columbia, Missouri ever since a 90-year-old Mizzou fan screamed “F*#@ you” at me after the Sooners’ 31-24 win in 2002. Eliah Drinkwitz is going down in his birthplace town of Norman, Oklahoma.
And because I have been to more than 40 OU-Texas games in my lifetime, picking Oklahoma to upset what is now the No. 1 team in the land really isn’t that big of a long shot. The underdog in the Red River Shootout (I am not politically correct) has a psychological advantage.
So I am picking Oklahoma. Plus, I hate orange.
Therefore, the Sooners end with a 8-4 record.
Will that save Venables’ job?
No one knows. Because we don’t know who will replace outgoing athletic director Joe Castiglione at year’s end.
But we do know if Oklahoma wins eight games the transformation of Sooners fans will be complete. Sure, they won’t be chanting “SEC, SEC” at games (pinheaded students don’t count).
But, they may well be semi-happy Oklahoma is on track in the rugged Southeastern Conference.
Just in time for that easier schedule expected in 2026. Without or without Venables.
Photo credits: Soonersports.com
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