Day 1 of four at [autotag]SEC media days[/autotag] in Dallas featured plenty of influential figures in the conference making their opinions known. One of the biggest voices in [autotag]SEC[/autotag] country had high praise for the Oklahoma Sooners and their head coach.
Former LSU and Alabama head coach Nick Saban complimented [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and said he believes the roster in Norman is improving.
“I think he’s a really, really good coach. He’s a hard worker, he’s an attention to detail guy,” Saban said of Venables. “He’s one of the best defensive coaches in college football. I think their roster is getting better, especially on the defensive side, which was the issue.”
T.J. Eckert of KUTL Channel 8 in Tulsa shared more of the seven-time national champion head coach’s comments, as Saban elaborated on his point.
"I think their roster is getting better, especially on the defensive side which was the issue."
"They had good offenses when Lincoln Riley was there, but never had the defenses to get over the hump."
Asked Nick Saban for his thoughts on Oklahoma heading into the SEC. #Sooners pic.twitter.com/Fgx3b0lvUz
— TJ Eckert (@TJEckertKTUL) July 15, 2024
“They’ve had really good offensive teams when Lincoln (Riley) was there and were never quite good enough on defense to get it over the hump, but I think they’re getting better as a total, balanced roster in terms of the kind of athletes they have, the kind of speed they have, the kind of athleticism they have on their team,” Saban said.
Saban’s comments echo the drumbeat of local media in the state of Oklahoma about the football program that has grown louder. National media is beginning to pick up on the idea that fans and analysts of the Sooners were right about the roster building that was occurring in Norman.
Saban saw the Sooners firsthand when they were very poor defensively, beating them in the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] in 2018. In the semifinal game at the Orange Bowl, Alabama defeated Oklahoma, 45-34. Saban’s Crimson Tide built a 21-0 lead before [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag] and the Sooners blinked that night in Miami. Tua Tagovailoa and Alabama led, 28-0, before the Sooners scored.
From there, the Tide were content to take their foot off the gas and keep OU at arm’s length. The Sooner offense led a second-half comeback, but ‘Bama never allowed them to get closer than 11 points, the eventual winning margin.
The following year, in 2019, [autotag]Jalen Hurts[/autotag] and Oklahoma were defeated by Justin Jefferson and LSU, 63-28, in the Peach Bowl [autotag]CFP[/autotag] semifinal game. The Tigers jumped to a 35-7 lead, but refused to let up on the gas pedal. They led, 49-14, at halftime, rolling to the 35-point win. The loss dropped OU to 0-4 in the playoffs and only one of those games was decided by one possession.
These events, and others of the more recent variety, make it clear OU needed to change the composition and makeup of their roster if they wanted to win national championships, not just make the playoff. This fact would be true even if the playoff was staying at four teams, as opposed to the 12-team field. The way that the roster was built had to be altered if more titles were to come to Norman.
Venables has only been on the job for two-and-a-half years, but the OU administration knows it has their guy. Saban’s comments are just the latest this week that illustrate that people around the country are beginning to believe in what Venables has been patiently building in Norman.
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