Is OU football prepared for SEC? Sooners may be better than people think

OU football coach Brent Venables lines up with his team before the Alamo Bowl against Arizona on Dec. 28, 2023, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

NORMAN — Nearly three years ago when OU football, along with its archrival Texas reached out to the Southeastern Conference about joining forces, the Sooners’ national reputation wasn’t in line with a traditionally tough, defensive SEC program.

OU is a national brand with perhaps more historic success than any program in the league outside of Alabama. But over the four seasons from 2017-20, the Sooners were 0-3 against SEC teams in the College Football Playoff and ranked Nos. 68, 101, 64 and 28 nationally, respectively, in team defense.

Ever since he was hired, four months after the bombshell news of conference realignment, head coach Brent Venables has worked tirelessly to transform the Sooners into a balanced football team more in line with the modern SEC. That work landed him a new six-year contract worth $51.6 million, which was approved by OU’s Board of Regents on June 21.

Mike Stoops — brother of hall of fame coach Bob Stoops and Kentucky’s inside linebackers coach — led those underperforming defenses for a year and a half under head coach Lincoln Riley. Mike Stoops has watched from afar as Venables, who he worked with across 11 seasons at Kansas State and OU, tries to flip the script ahead of the Sooners’ official entry into the juggernaut conference on July 1.

“Brent has really worked hard to change the culture,” Mike Stoops told The Oklahoman. “Whether it was me or (Alex Grinch, the Sooners’ defensive coordinator from 2019-21), or whoever. The defensive lapses or inability to consistently stop people became an Achilles heel and trying to change that mindset. I can see Brent doing that, you can just see it from afar.

“I know the kind of person…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ou-football-prepared-sec-sooners-120122986.html

Author : The Oklahoman

Publish date : 2024-06-30 12:01:22

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