College football fans can argue that logos are meaningless, but there’s a reason they represent what they do. Even coaches understand that.
Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables, just two weeks ago, watched Michigan look disastrous in a near-upset loss to Western Michigan, but still gave the Wolverines all of his respect before taking his Sooners to Ann Arbor. OU fans then obviously learned the hard way why Venables didn’t think any less of Michigan before suffering a 17-10 loss.
The tables have turned this week, as now it’s Georgia head coach Kirby Smart tipping his visor to Venables before the struggling Sooners head to play the No. 2 Bulldogs with seemingly no hope of winning. Sound familiar?
There's mutual respect between blue-blood programs like Oklahoma and Georgia for a reason
"A lot of respect for Coach Venables and the job he's done everywhere he's been," Smart said during his weekly press conference. "I have known him for a long time and have the utmost respect for him as a coach and a man and a person. We go way back. He's probably been one of the premier defensive coaches in all of college football for a long time.
“So they have a really good football team, and it's a great matchup."
Here’s what Venables said about Michigan when everyone else was counting the Wolverines out:
“We've put Michigan in a great light, like they deserve, for a long time here -- for the last several months. This isn't the first week that we've been preparing and talking about Michigan and Georgia and Texas and many other teams that are on our schedule. Our players hold Michigan in high regard and with tremendous respect, like they deserve.”
The similarities between Week 2 and 4, other than the roles being reversed and the favorite being at home this time, are uncanny.
Even heading into the matchup, it feels like Vegas thinks too highly of the underdog. The Sooners being just 4.5-point favorites over Michigan seemed like free money, but then a lot of people lost a lot of money.
Now, it’s hard to see the Sooners even scoring 14 points against Georgia, let alone covering that 13.5-point spread as underdogs.
Like Michigan heading into Week 2, the Sooners also just struggled with a solid Group of 6 squad and have an offense that looks incapable of scoring against any Power 4 defense, especially Georgia’s.
As usual, anytime an offense struggles, there’s also a lot of doubt about the quarterback. Just before playing OU, Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham made it clear that Bryce Underwood’s job as QB1 wasn’t secured.
Venables hasn’t said anything like that, but just about anyone else with an opinion has. John Mateer isn’t the Sooners’ biggest problem, but there’s no doubt he’s been disappointing.
Smart has certainly noticed Mateer’s deficiencies while studying film, but just like Venables did with Underwood, Smart gave Mateer his flowers while planning to stop him.
“Obviously, his athleticism pops out at you," Smart said. "He's hard to tackle. He breaks a lot of tackles. He's tough. You talk about the run game. He runs inside. He runs outside. He runs to pass. He scrambles to throw. He's made explosives with his legs.
"I think back to last year, his growth, because we didn't play them. You saw his highlights and you saw the things he's done. He's become even more that way this year in terms of understanding our conference, when to run, when not to. He's done a good job of it."
Smart actually gave praise to OU’s entire roster. He knows how talented it is from top to bottom because, as he mentioned, he recruited most of those players and wanted them himself.
Week 2 should serve as an eye-opener that, obviously, college football coaches and even Vegas understand ball. There are no knee-jerk overreactions to one performance that overshadow the years of success and all the talent that made their opponent into a blue-blood program.
There was obviously a reason Venables never lost respect for Michigan, and as defeated as Sooner Nation feels right now, there’s also a reason Smart still has respect for Oklahoma. And as long as that respect remains from those who know best, then OU fans can also always have hope.
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