What constitutes success for you and your sports teams? It is going to be different for everyone depending on the person and the team. This is an important question to ask ourselves from time to time in this era of college football that is reminiscent of the Wild West, where the rules keep changing and the law is only law if someone’s going to enforce it. In this modern day of NIL, expanded playoffs and conference realignment, what does success look like for Oklahoma football?
The obvious answer is winning a national championship. This is the answer everyone would want to give when talking about the aspirations and success of a blue blood program. But, where is the bottom line? There has been a lot of talk in major sports media about the death of the dynasty.
Many think we’ve seen the last of teams like Nick Saban’s Alabama. I believe that to be true, but does that mean we will never see another dynasty? No, we just need to redefine what a “dynasty” is. To do that we need to determine what success is.
Why making the College Football Playoff now defines success at Oklahoma
Much of what Mario Cristobal is saying at Miami applies to Kalen DeBoer & the Alabama fanbase pic.twitter.com/Qaqtkd9nNL
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) January 5, 2026
Success in modern college football at the highest level is making the College Football Playoff. That is the standard that all top programs have for their head coaches. Success is getting invited to the dance. That is the bar that should be set for Brent Venables and Oklahoma. A ticket to the playoff is a successful season. Oklahoma’s aspirations should never and will never simply end there, but that is where the line is now being drawn. That is because now, in this modern day, that will be the new flames that forge new dynasties.
Gone are the days of multiple national championships in a short time frame. The parity has become too strong to allow it.
Instead of the most talented players only going to a small handful of programs, they’re now scattered across the country, many going to the highest bidder. In years past, elite talents were OK sitting second- or third-string on a team like Alabama. This allowed insane depth and development for the elite programs to set themselves firmly apart from the rest of the country. That is impossible now. The second- and third-string players of old are now accepting money to go play for middle-of-the-pack teams. The ranks are running thin.
So, for Venables' OU, it is on the path of success. The ship has been righted in its course in spite of those fans who called for Venables' head after the loss to Texas. The Sooners look to be a top-10 team again for the 2026 season, and with every playoff made, a brick will be laid for the foundation of Venables’ legacy at Oklahoma.