SoonerScoop Sights & Sounds: OU Alamo Bowl practice
Signing day is in the books for OU. We’re days away from the first transfer portal window closing. Now? It’s time to play football again.
The Sooners arrived in San Antonio on Christmas Eve to get ready to take on No. 14 Arizona in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Thursday night.
OU, ranked No. 12, is gunning for its 11th win of the season. It’s something that would mean a lot to head coach Brent Venables.
“Anytime you play, that’s what you play for,” Venables said. “As a competitor and as a coach, you get in the arena you play to win. You love to compete and there’s a result and at the end of this game, there’s gonna be a stage and there’s gonna be a trophy handed out.
“And that means a lot to all of us as keepers of the jersey. We’re on the shoulders of many great players and coaches that have come before us and that’s the responsibility that you take when you come to a place like Oklahoma.”
A new era at OU
A lot has changed since the OU offense took the field. Gone is quarterback Dillon Gabriel, now at Oregon. And in has entered the Jackson Arnold era at OU. As well as the Seth Littrell offensive coordinator era in Norman.
For all the changes, though, the nucleus still remains. The team shouldn’t be disjointed at the Alamodome.
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“I don’t think it’ll be too much different,” said wide receiver Drake Stoops.” Jackson has been with us since last winter, so almost a full year now and he knows the system really well. Coach Littrell has shown us the system very well with sprinkling in his own creative pieces in there. He’s been a very experienced play caller offensively throughout his career and I think we’ll be well prepared. We’ll be ready to play.”
You want to win, but you want to enjoy the experience as well. That’s where some of the veterans and captains come in. They know how to strike the balance. Fun can be fun. When it’s time to work, time to get to it.
“With me being an older guy, it’s important to make sure our younger guys are locked in,” cornerback Woodi Washington said. “We want everyone to enjoy the experience as much as possible, but we have to keep that focus on the game.”
OU, of course, defeated Oregon in the Alamo Bowl two years ago in its only other trip to the bowl.
Here with the Sights & Sounds from OU’s practice on Christmas is SoonerScoop video editor Eddie Radosevich.
