Oklahoma’s 31-29 win was their smallest margin of victory of the season. Prior to that, it was the four-point win over Texas. In the first five games of the season, the Sooners won each game by at least two touchdowns and had an average margin of victory of 36.6 points per game.
Saturday, the Sooners got punched in the mouth by the UCF Knights, and they kept fighting back. It was a tough, resilient win for Oklahoma on a day when the offense and the defense both experienced cold spells in the game.
But they battled. They showed heart and toughness to pull out the two-point win and stay undefeated. There’s still a lot for this team to correct moving forward, but they’ve put themselves in a position to be one of the best in college football.
And Brent Venables isn’t surprised by their success through the first seven games of the season.
“When we stay inside out, we’re not going to listen to all the noise,” Venables said in the postgame speech. “People are doubtin’ us. As I told you, everybody that ain’t a Sooner is holding their breath, waiting for Oklahoma to collapse. Right? To fall on our face. Man, there were some people they was ready to celebrate.
“But they don’t know. They don’t know. The heart of this football team. The leadership of this football team. The capability of this football team. This team, again, I’ve said it for a long time. No Limits on this one. I just stand back and watch for a little bit. Okay, since January. I didn’t say this in January. I didn’t say it in spring ball. I didn’t say it at the beginning of the summer. I wanna see you guys prove it. You’ve proven it to me. No limits on what this team can do.”
“They don’t know the heart of this football team.” @CoachVenables | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/LKMngWY7CG
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) October 21, 2023
Back in the summer, Brent Venables said this was a team that had a chance to “hang a banner” in 2023 if the defense improved. That kind of talk seemed crazy to some following the Sooners 6-7 season in 2023. However, the improvement in talent on both sides of the ball made a believer of Venables.
Now that the Oklahoma Sooners are 7-0 and with a win over Texas under their belt, that “hang a banner” talk doesn’t seem so crazy now.
The defense has improved. The offense has too. They’re a team playing complimentary football and winning games, even when they’re not at their best.
A year ago, the Sooners were 0-5 in one-score games. In 2023, they’re 2-0. The year-to-year turnaround has put Oklahoma on a Big 12 title game trajectory and in College Football Playoff discussions. They’re the No. 6 team in the nation in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25.
There’s a lot of work still to be done for OU as they get set for the final five games of the season. They’ll go on the road to face Kansas and Oklahoma State before returning to Norman to take on West Virginia. The Sooners then play BYU in Provo and finish the regular season with a Black Friday contest against TCU.
There will be challenges along the way, but through seven games this season, and in particular the last two wins, the Oklahoma Sooners have shown they’re for the challenge.
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