Dari Nowkhah: 'Enjoy the ride' is the message to OU fans about SEC

OU is in the SEC, and there a couple of media members who know what that’s all about it. From both sides.

Dari Nowkhah and Dusty Dvoracek were in Norman on Monday afternoon, answering questions and giving advice.

Buckle up, OU fans.

Dari, advice for the OU fan?

“Advice? I think Sooner fans specifically don’t count on 11-1 happening every year (laughs). Be realistic. It’s not going to be automatic. Every year is not going to be the dream that we’ve seen for the (vast majority) of the last 20 years. It’s a different beast, but prepare yourself to enjoy the ride and not just the results, because the ride in this league is really damn fun.”

Is OU ready for the SEC?

Dvoracek:

“It’s going to be fun to see exactly where Oklahoma is at. The litmus test will be interesting, especially that first game against Tennessee, because best believe that Josh Heupel is going to bring his team in ready to roll and I think everybody’s going to get an idea of just how ready Oklahoma is. And I think it’s interesting because both of those teams are very similar. Talented defense, young quarterbacks, I think very similar expectations. They’ll probably be ranked in a similar spot. Personally I’m optimistic, I think that Oklahoma is in a good spot, but they’re swimming with sharks now. So we’ll see exactly where they’re at.”

Dari, you’ve got to be very excited to have OU join the league?

“Very much so. It’s funny when the news started to break, I remember I texted Greg Sankey and I was like, ‘Tell me this is real.’ And it was and it is. And I just keep telling myself, ‘Imagine if we had to wait another year like with the original plan.’ For 10 years I’ve covered the SEC and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve grown to appreciate the conference although I grew up in the Big Eight and the Big 12. But to get to call and cover a conference that I’ve grown to love with a team that I’ve always loved, yea, it’s pretty special.”

Eight or nine conference games?

Dvoracek:

“Personally, I’d like to see them go to nine. I love competitive football. That would just give you that much more competitive football and everybody’s looking for ways to grow revenue, I imagine that’s a good way to grow revenue if you throw out an additional game across the board in the conference. I have no idea, I do think the SEC has the best leader in all of college athletics in Greg Sankey. He’s playing chess when it seems like a lot of people are playing checkers. I have no idea what commissioner Sankey has in his mind, but if you’re asking me my opinion I think it makes a lot of sense to go to nine games. I hope they go to nine games but I have no clue if that’s the plan.”

What about OU recruiting recently has gotten your attention?

Dvoracek:

“Defense for me. I think they’re getting legit guys that you get in the SEC. And look Coach Venables, he knows. At Clemson he won two national championships against SEC teams. He knows what it’s going to take to step into that league. He knew the day he took the job what he needed to do. That’s first and foremost. Oklahoma’s done a nice job on offense too, but I think the biggest difference I’ve seen is they’re ability to get defensive players that are game-changers.

“I know we live in an offensive world. And we’re going to talk about Jackson Arnold, we’re going to talk about all these great quarterbacks and these offenses, but you look at the teams that win the SEC, you look at teams that win national championships, they have great defenses. When Oklahoma was on top of college football, they played really good defense. The way that Coach Venables has recruited on the defensive side of the football tells me that they’re back on their way to competing at a high level.”

Here is the full transcript of the conversation.