Brent Venables on Oklahoma in the SEC: 'This program stands on its own two legs'
Brent Venables believes Oklahoma fits right into the SEC in terms of its history of success in football. The Sooners currently rank No. 6 in college football history with 944 victories, coming in behind only Alabama and Texas among teams in their new conference.
OU also brings seven national championships with it to the SEC, which it officially joined Monday along with the Longhorns. The Sooners have also produced seven Heisman Trophy winners and 50 conference titles.
Those are all facts that Venables pointed to as being a reason why the they fit in well in the SEC, which has been at the top of college football for the past couple of decades.
“We’re one of the winningest programs in the history of college football,” Venables said Monday to cheers from an Oklahoma crowd on the SEC Network. “This is a program, whether it’s the 47-game winning streak or the most conference championships in the history of college football. The national championships, all the Heisman winners. The countless players that are now in the Hall of Fame, both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
“…This program stands on its own two legs. Now you get elite matching up with elite. An elite program, like Oklahoma has been for many years, matching up with the best brand and the best league in all of college football — the SEC.”
Oklahoma enters the SEC coming off of a 10-3 season. Despite their seven national titles, the Sooners have not won a championship since 2000 and have not been to a College Football Playoff since 2019.
The CFP is set to expand to 12 teams this upcoming season, and OU’s schedule will get a lot tougher. The Sooners have matchups with Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and of course Texas on their path to proving themselves worthy of a postseason spot.
That history gives Venables confidence that it won’t be long before Oklahoma proves it belongs in the SEC. OU had previously put together 23 straight winning seasons before going 6-7 in the coach’s inaugural season in 2022. However, the turnaround this past season comes at the right time and they’ll aim to carry that over into their new conference.
The Sooners are set to open up the 2024 season on Aug. 30 against Temple and play their first SEC game on Sept. 21 against Tennessee in Norman.