Oklahoma football: Kirk Herbstreit has critical message for Sooner fans
By Chip Rouse
ESPN college football analyst and commentator Kirk Herbstreit has been highly supportive of Oklahoma football the past couple of decades. but he had some tough words to swallow for Sooner fans during a Zoom conference call with reporters this week.
Speaking with reporters in advance of the marquee matchup on Saturday between No. 3 Alabama and No. 11 Texas, Herbstreit said Texas is better prepared right now to cope with the brutal gauntlet of SEC football than Oklahoma.
"“If you look at Oklahoma and you look at Texas right now, the rosters…Now, Brent Venables is a couple of years behind where Sark (Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian) is,” Herbstreit said.“It just feels like when you look at Texas, they’re closer to being where you need to be than I think where Venables is currently. But I think he’ll (Venables) will be there as well because he understands it probably as well as anybody.”"
It is more of a timing issue for Oklahoma, according to Herbstreit because he does believe that the second-year head coach has the Sooners headed in the right direction.
"“He’ll (Venables) get that program eventually there, but right now Texas, I think, they’re ready to compete (in the SEC). We’ll see how it goes.”"
Texas is a 7.0-point underdog to Alabama, playing at Bama on Saturday. The Sooners are scheduled to face Alabama at home in the eighth game of the 2024 season.
Those clearly are hard words for Sooner fans to hear, but it’s probably pretty close to the truth. If the Longhorns are ready now, in Herbstreit’s view, to compete in the SEC, I candidly believe Oklahoma is two years behind where Texas is today. We’ll have a much better read on that after Oct. 7 this season when the Sooners and Longhorns go at each other in the 119th renewal of the Red River Rivalry, but I’d say, at most, OU is maybe a year behind where Texas is currently.
Texas has chronically underperformed its talent level. I don’t believe the same holds true for Oklahoma. Perhaps Sarkisian is in the process of finally turning that around, but that still remains to be seen.
Sarkisian is an offensive-minded coach. Brent Venables’ stellar resume has been built on the defensive side. The common theme in Texas’ underperformance over the past decade seemingly has been the inability of the Longhorn coaching staff to develop the highly-touted prospects it recruits to the roster each and every year to reach those same high expectations in on-field performance. That is the responsibility of the coaching staff, not just the head coach. And I think Venables’ coaching staff is ahead of Sarkisian’s in that important respect.
Another related factor to keep in mind: Venables’ rebuild trajectory, thanks to what Lincoln Riley left behind, was much steeper than the one Sarkisian inherited at Texas.