Brent Venables says Oklahoma has a chance to win in 2023

Brent Venables has dreams of one last glorious finish in the Big 12 before heading off to the SEC. The Sooners head coach discussed his expectations ahead of 2024’s conference realignment, noting that if his team can improve in one certain aspect — the sky is the limit for his squad. He even thinks they can potentially hang a banner following the 2023 campaign.

“If we just get better on defense we’re going to win 10-plus games and have a chance to hang a banner up at the end of the year,” Venables said, via Oklahoma beat writer Ryan Aber.

That’s, of course, easier said than done — especially since the Sooners are coming off their worst season this century. Finishing the year 6-7 overall, it was only the second time in seven years that the Sooners failed to win at least 10 games. The other instance saw them finish the 11-game 2020 season 9-2 overall.

Venables said this about 2023 and then saw 2024 wouldn’t be any easier. They face some stiff competition when they join the SEC hosting Alabama and Tennessee, and road trips to Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss throws the Sooners right into the deep end of SEC competition.

Oklahoma and Texas won’t join the SEC until next summer, but at least they have their first SEC schedule to hold them over for the next 15 months. In the meantime, Venables has dreams of one last Big 12 title in a conference Oklahoma has dominated since its creation.

Tim Tebow makes peculiar comment on Oklahoma’s SEC schedule

When Oklahoma joins the SEC in 2024, the Sooners will have their hands full. They drew a tough conference slate during Wednesday’s schedule reveal, giving them quite the welcome to their new league.

Oklahoma will play Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee at home while traveling to Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri as part of its inaugural SEC season. Let’s also not forget the neutral site game against Texas, as well.

That’s quite the slate after making the jump from the Big 12. It’s one that drew an interesting analogy from SEC Network analyst and College Football Hall of Fame quarterback Tim Tebow.

“Dang, the SEC gave Oklahoma a gauntlet in 2024,” Tebow said Wednesday during the SEC Network’s schedule reveal show. “Let’s talk about it, they’ve got to play Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mizzou. Come on, man. Like, what a gauntlet [in] year one. That’s like giving someone a hug and a spanking at the same time. … Listen, they’ve had a lot of fantastic teams, been in a lot of big games. This OU brand’s going to do great in the SEC. 

“But boy, I’ll tell you what, they have a gauntlet. I mean, Texas has a hard schedule, but you look at that OU schedule, whew. They’re going to need some help from that softball team, they’ve been so good.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this story