Oklahoma football: Should Sooner fans be re-thinking their expectations?

Oklahoma football is among the greatest, if not the greatest, college football program in the history of the sport, and fans have been spoiled over decades of winning and consistency.

Sure, OU is on their longest national championship drought, but they have been beyond consistent through the decades aside from the 1990s when dealing with the transition between Switzer and Stoops. Throw in probation, and well, things weren’t great.

Because of all the success, Sooner nation has been prompted to overreact to every loss and to expect OU to roll year after year. Some might say that is not realistic expectations. However, I disagree, Oklahoma is one of the most consistent programs in this sport, and while a bad season here or there may happen, OU should expect to win. Oklahoma, despite some transition, should still expect to win big this year, and despite the loss to Kansas State, every goal is still attainable. Sooner Nation, your expectation should still be for the Sooners to win big, yes, even in 2022.

This is not a rebuild.

Brent Venables took over while there were some somber feelings in Norman, but this is no rebuild. Oklahoma still has one of the best rosters in the entire sport; in fact, the Sooners boast the fourth-best blue chip rate in the country at 71%. To put that in perspective, only three of the previous 12 national championships had a blue chip rate higher than 71%. Say what you will about Alex Grinch and Lincoln Riley; there is plenty. But one thing you can’t accuse them of is leaving the cupboards bare. Sure, some guys transferred, and some guys went pro. But there is a ton of talent on the roster, and Venables and his staff had a great summer adding even more.

There is NFL talent all over this roster on both sides of the football, there is a lot to work with for the coaching staff to mold into a quality product, and we saw that through the first three weeks of the season.

Venables knows what it takes to win and bounce back.

Venables has been a part of a championship-caliber program since 2000. He has seen elite teams that have lost games and bounced back to make a run. He knows what it takes, both as an assistant to Dabo Swinney and Bob Stoops. Oklahoma, for example, suffered a setback in 2008 against Texas, then went on a historic run offensively and ended up playing for a National Championship. Or in 2016, when Clemson struggled all year and even lost to Pitt but found a way to turn it around and win the National Championship. Oklahoma has a lot of upperclassmen, and I believe they will listen to the headman’s experience and takes.

Not only that, but he knows how to command the attention of these young men and get them refocused; he knows how to teach on film what went wrong and how to fix it. The Sooner’s issues against the Wildcats are all fixable. They have the physical gifts and the type of athletes needed to do the job.

The standard is the standard

Brent Venables is setting forward a foundation that the standard is the standard. Meaning, that Oklahoma will not be living based on the expectations of anyone else, but Oklahoma. Which is winning championships and competing at the highest level. There is no reason to believe Oklahoma will not continue to rise above, and this is what programs that win do.

When they lose football games they find a way to bounce back and fix the issues that caused the loss in the first place. Oklahoma and Venables will do just that, I would certainly hate to be TCU this Saturday.