With the Oklahoma Sooners’ inaugural SEC season nearing its end, head coach Brent Venables faces intensifying scrutiny.
Oklahoma, historically accustomed to success, is now grappling with the prospect of missing a bowl game – a scenario few envisioned when the Sooners embarked on their SEC journey.
At 5-5, Venables and his team now confront a punishing final stretch with two matchups against SEC powerhouses: Alabama and LSU.
Transitioning to the SEC was never expected to be seamless for Oklahoma, but few in Norman anticipated a potential sub-.500 season.
Needless to say, if Venables doesn’t change the vibes and turn things around quickly he will be in grave danger.
“With each of its final regular season games being against ranked opponents, it’s possible that Oklahoma finishes with a losing record for the second time in three years under Venables. That’s not acceptable by OU standards,” Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports wrote.
“While Venables’ job appears safe through this year, there’s growing pressure in Norman and it will be important for Venables to make a strong hire at offensive coordinator after firing Seth Littrell.”
Zenitz noted that Venables’ job is most likely is safe for now – even if the Sooners fail to reach a bowl game – but added that his hot seat is only getting hotter.
The firing of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell, a former Oklahoma fullback, followed a disastrous 35-9 loss to South Carolina.
In that defeat, the Sooners offense turned the ball over four times as it became more than apparent that a change was needed.
Of course, one of the low points for Oklahoma this season was their embarrassing 31-3 blowout loss to rival Texas.
There’s no denying that the Longhorns are on a different level this year. However, suffering such a lopsided defeat to your biggest rival is unacceptable, especially when your standards are as high as Oklahoma’s are.
After Littrell’s departure, the Sooners’ offensive struggles continued.
They put up just 14 points against Ole Miss but rebounded somewhat with a 59-14 rout over FCS opponent Maine. (Although you can’t take much from that.)
Unfortunately, anything positive they may have accomplished in last Saturday’s matchup against Missouri was quickly washed away as they collapsed and fell to the Tigers 30-23.
What are your thoughts on Venables’ job status?
Clearly, things haven’t gone smooth at all for him at Oklahoma and patience is quickly running out.
Should he even be given another season to prove himself?
Now, I ask (sarcastically!); would Oklahoma be better off with Lincoln Riley in charge???
