The noise has moved on from Oklahoma, and Brent Venables probably isn’t losing any sleep over it.
As the college football season gets closer, the usual preseason chatter is filling up with playoff picks and national title predictions. But in all that conversation, one theme keeps popping up: the Sooners are not being treated like a real contender. For Oklahoma, that might be the best possible setup.
There was a time when Lincoln Riley’s teams lived in the national spotlight before the season even kicked off. Oklahoma would show up in the top five, and that ranking came with a built-in argument.
Fans from other schools complained the Sooners were overrated. OU fans pushed back.
People around the country talked about playoff losses, about whether Oklahoma belonged there at all, and even floated the idea that the program was getting special treatment.
That kind of attention is gone now.
The national spotlight has rolled past Norman and kept moving down the SEC highway. There are no oversized expectations hanging over this team, and no media-driven “rat poison,” as Nick Saban would call it. That is exactly the environment Venables wants.
In previous seasons, everybody seemed to be waiting on Oklahoma - waiting for a collapse, waiting for a signature win, waiting for a Heisman moment. This year feels different.
Venables has what he believes is his strongest team since taking over, and most of the country doesn’t seem to realize it. The Sooners can operate without the constant microscope, while the pressure gets shifted elsewhere.
Venables will be happy to let other programs cruise along in their expensive rides, bought and paid for by billionaire alumni, on the road to the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma can stay in the shadows, handle its business, and let the season play out.
If the Sooners end up collecting the praise at the finish line, nobody will be able to say they were handed anything. For Sooner fans, that sounds just about right.
In Other News...
Sooners Could Be Headed For Another Painful Wave Of Roster Losses
The transfer portal has already become part of Oklahomas annual roster reality, and another wave could be waiting after the 2026 season if several young Sooners cant find a clearer path to the field. A recent look at the roster pointed to five players who could be in that conversation, with the common thread being opportunity: some have been buried on the depth chart, others are facing crowded position rooms, and a few are still trying to turn early promise into a real role.
Among the names drawing attention are Daniel Akinkunmi, Ivan Carreon, Whitt Newbauer and Elijah Thomas, all of whom have reasons to wonder what their future looks like if their situations stay the same. Carreons case is especially notable because he already flirted with leaving once before coming back, while Thomas is the kind of young player Oklahoma would prefer to keep if his role grows. For the Sooners, the bigger concern is not just losing bodies, but watching another group of developmental players decide the path to playing time is easier somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]
Kip Lewis Just Got The Kind Of Snub Sooners Fans Hate
Kip Lewis came back for his redshirt senior season with the kind of resume that usually gets noticed in preseason league chatter. After leading Oklahoma in tackles a year ago, the linebacker has drawn praise from NFL scouts and some analysts, and even landed on Phil Steeles preseason First Team All-American list, which made him feel like one of the safer bets to show up on early SEC honor rolls.
Instead, Lewis was left off The Athletics preseason All-SEC team, a miss that stands out even more because several of his Sooners teammates did get recognized. It is the sort of omission Oklahoma fans tend to file away quickly, especially with SEC Media Days on deck and Brent Venables set to bring key voices like John Mateer, Taylor Wein and Eddy Pierre-Louis into the spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Just Got The SEC Validation Fans Have Been Waiting For
Oklahomas move from the Big 12 into the SEC was never going to be a seamless one, and the first season showed it. The Sooners had to absorb the leagues weekly physicality, the constant scrutiny and the expectation that every Saturday carries weight, all while trying to prove they belonged in a conference that treats football like a year-round obsession.
Dusty Dvoracek, the ESPN analyst and former Oklahoma standout, sees that part of the transition as a natural fit for the program and its fan base. His perspective matters because it speaks to more than wins and losses - it points to whether Oklahomas culture can live comfortably inside the SECs nonstop spotlight, even as the Sooners continue trying to establish their place among the leagues heavyweights. [Read more 🡒]