As crazy as it sounds, playing well remains an option for Sooners
Author’s Note: Once again, you get the literal game day column a day early here at Oklahoma Columnist. This one was a struggle, trying to capture the never-never land Sooners fans have been forced to enter in a season their team, many times, has not even been competitive in the program’s inaugural SEC journey, a place where despite head coach Brent Venables’ ownership and apparent honesty, it still rings hollow nonetheless. I tried to capture it. Enjoy.
It is hard to listen to Brent Venables.
Not frustrating, really. It shouldn’t make anybody angry.
But it’s hard.
This past week, Venables spent a moment reflecting on the challenges of modern college football and what it requires from him and his staff, none of which is easy or fun.
Venables was speaking of getting his roster down to 105 players with an eye toward next season, an approaching signing day, the inevitable comings and goings of the transfer portal and a certain amount of ruthlessness his regime must employ between this season and next to make the most of the process.
“That means you’re going to have to tell several players that they don’t have a spot … But I”m not here complaining,” he said. “My job is to make the best decisions for our program and try to help people through the carnage …
“I’ve been telling guys for over 12 months, everything’s getting ready to change. There will be more of a business type approach that we will operate under.”
Though he may not have addressed roster shedding and building just so in the past, he’s nonetheless addressed myriad things with a similar tone.
Be it how hard his team continues to work, or how the buy-in of individuals remains top notch. Or how, even as the team’s fallen way, way, way short of the program standard, improvement really is occurring.
It’s sort of all under the umbrella of Venables, his staff, the players, the program, everybody, doing what must be done, no matter how hard or how difficult, to be the team OU ought to be.
It’s hard because the message is valiant, on point, all he can really say in these trying times and might well be true.
It’s hard because all of that, and when he says it, all you can think is: great, but you didn’t just get here, this is your third season; great, but the landscape didn’t just get here, it was already here and, oh, yeah, this is your third season; great, but everybody’s abiding by the same rules (or lack of them) and, anyway, this is your third season.
Is it possible the last true believer is the head coach, while others, though still around, have retreated?
OU could improve and still it’s likely to lose to Alabama today, LSU in a week and finish the season 5-7 with a single conference victory, one that required a heavy dose of Sooner Magic — Kip Lewis’ pick six — just to get.
Jackson Arnold could offer growth, returning receivers could catch a few balls, the offensive line could produce a 100-yard back and offer better pass protection, but does that stuff even matter when you’ve produced a worse conference season than even John Blake ever produced?
Perhaps a big game from Xavier Robinson might be fun no matter the outcome. He’s sort of the only offensive player on the roster not tarnished by his team’s horrendous season.
Perhaps that.
But there’s also this:
It sounds crazy, but OU could beat Alabama.
It sounds even crazier, but the Sooners could beat the Tide and the Tigers, too.
Or they could just play well, take games to the wire, offer serious improvement and give their fans enough to want them to reach a bowl game because, hey, a team like that, who wouldn’t want to see it play again.
It sounds ridiculous, of course. Impossible given all that’s come before. And maybe that’s the hardest part of all.
The only way to save the season after so much failure, would be to watch OU become the team it ought to be every season and certainly three years into any head coach’s tenure.
A good team.
A competitive team.
A team that offers hope.
A team you want to root for.
Every Sooner squad since ’98 has at least been that and it’s not a high bar.
Venables sounds like a coach who, every week, is telling you, despite all you’ve seen, required steps are being taken.
It would be so much easier if, instead, his team just played well, an opportunity it will be given twice more.
It’s not much to ask.
In year three.
Who’s the “last believer” now?
Nice piece, too.