The first loss of the Brent Venables era left the fanbase feeling shocked and disappointed. Surely the Sooners didn’t lose a game before the Trojans did in their first Big 12 game.
Well, they did. And there’s no going back now. They got outplayed and outcoached. It happens. Here’s the question: how do the Sooners respond after getting run over at home?
The reaction, both locally and nationally, would not be pretty if Oklahoma loses in Fort Worth on Saturday against Sonny Dykes’ Horned Frogs. A loss would leave the Sooners 3-2 with an 0-2 record in Big 12 play heading into the Red River Showdown. That’s sub-optimal, to say the least.
No one’s job is on the line this week. Let’s be clear on that. However, this coaching staff has made it known that they are different than the one that preceded them. Too often in the past, the Sooners wouldn’t respond well to adversity. Safe to say, they’re facing their share of it now.
If the Sooners come out slow against TCU, that’s a massive problem. After this staff’s first loss, the response is everything.
“We’re not going to be defined by this loss moving forward,” Venables said to the media after the game. “We will, however, be defined by how we respond moving forward. And then I still believe, with everything I got, in this team and what’s still sitting in front of us.”
Still sitting in front of them is a chance to contend for a Big 12 title. Though their chances to make the playoffs have diminished greatly, they still have a shot as long as they win.
And it starts with what they do when they go down to Fort Worth this week.
The Sooners need to come out firing on all cylinders against TCU. This coaching staff inherited all the talent necessary to win football games in the Big 12. Venables himself has said that he is the man to bring OU into the SEC.
Time to show it.
The Sooners need to show that they are indeed different from the teams that came before them. They need to go into Fort Worth and show that week four was an aberration.
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