Debate over whether OU football is SEC ready has evolved into can Sooners even become bowl eligible

Long before Oklahoma's 2024 debut season as a member of the fiercely competitive SEC got underway, it was readily apparent that the roughest stretch of one of the college football's most difficult schedules would be over the final five weeks of the season.

We are now at that point of the season with the Sooners owning a respectable but un-Oklahoma-like 4-3 overall record but in serious jeopardy of not getting the final two wins that would make OU eligible for a postseason bowl assignment for the 26th consecutive year. Oklahoma's current active streak of 25 consecutive bowl appearances is the second only to Georgia with 27.

Ironically, the Oklahoma bowl appearance that started that quarter-century streak was the 1999 Independence Bowl, where OU's opponent was non other than Ole Miss, the Sooners' opponent this Saturday in only the second meeting all-time between the two teams.

Ole Miss prevailed in the 1999 game 27-25 on a game-winning, walk-off field goal as time expired. That Oklahoma team finished the season 7-5 in Bob Stoops' first season at Oklahoma and the only time he won fewer than eight games in his 18 seasons as head coach of the Sooners.

The Sooners have five remaining games in the regular season, and the Sooners will be favored in just one, on Nov. 2 at home against the University of Maine out of the Coastal Athletic Conference. That win would give Oklahoma five for the season, one short of becoming bowl eligible. OU is a 21-point underdog this weekend at Ole Miss and could easily be double digit underdogs to No. 15 Alabama on Nov. 23 and at No. 21 Missouri on Nov. 9 and at No. 8 LSU to close out the regular season and perhaps the 2024 season in the case of the Sooners.

Oklahoma needs to find a way to get an improbable win from either Ole Miss, Alabama, Missouri or LSU to be in bowl consideration. Unless the anemic Sooner offense, which has switched out quarterbacks and offensive coordinators in an effort to find a spark and provide some combustion to an offensive attack that has been stuck in neutral for most of the season, Brent Venables will be looking at his second losing season in the three years he has been the Sooners' head coach, not to mention some serious scrutiny over his job.

Venables was the popular choice when he was brought in to replace Lincoln Riley. The Oklahoma defense was at a similar point of inferiority following the 2021 season, and the prevailing notion was that if anyone could turn around the Sooners' ugly defensive performance it was Venables, widely recognized throughout college football as a defensive magician.

The Oklahoma defense has undeniably gotten better under Venables, but no one imagined that what has long been a dynamic, high-scoring Sooner offensive machine would reverse course, and so quickly. The Sooners are shockingly at the bottom of the FBS ladder in the most important offensive statistical categories this season. For those who might be thinking OU would have been better off staying in the Big 12, sadly the team with the most Big 12 championships would find itself in similar straights in that league.

Houston is one of the worst teams in the Big 12 in 2024, and Oklahoma, playing at home, narrowly beat the Cougars, 16-12, earlier this season. And the flawed Sooner offense was actually playing a little better then.

Even ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who has long been a supporter of the Oklahoma football program, can't ignore the elephant in the room in regards to Sooner football this season. Herbstreit took to social media this week to share his thoughts on some of the top college teams this season as well as teams that have been highly disappointing. He mentioned Oklahoma on the latter list.

"The Sooners, they're hitting rock bottom. Oklahoma is seriously reeling as an offense."

- ESPN CFB analyst Kirk Herbstreit

Oklahoma football fans are probably beginning to wonder why their beloved Sooners can't have the best of both worlds and a head coach who can bring out the best on both sides of the ball. For example, Lincoln Riley was a grandmaster of offensive football, and Venables likewise on the defensive side.

You don't have to sacrifice good offense for good defense and vice versa. The teams that are able to blend the two together in complementary fashion are the ones that are able to produce sustained success and aren't just going bowling every season but vying for the top bowl destinations.