Brent Venables is no stranger to pressure. After three up-and-down seasons in Norman, clicking in at 22-17, the Oklahoma HC knows he’s not just coaching football anymore. He’s trying to restore a dynasty that demands excellence, season in and season out. But even the most intense football mind can admit when the road ahead feels like walking into a buzzsaw. And that’s exactly how he views one particular trip this fall.
Ask Brent Venables about facing Alabama in Tuscaloosa in November and you’ll get a chuckle. Literally. “Oklahoma coach Brent Venables is not excited to go to Tuscaloosa this season.” That’s what alabama_ftbl wrote in their caption in their July 16 post featuring the HC’s SEC Media Days confession. “Excited to go to Tuscaloosa?” he practically laughed off the question before adding, “I’m a coach, I’m a loyalist, traditionalist. So I love that part of it but I don’t love to be nothing loving about going to Bryant-Denny Stadium.” Can we blame him?
It’s not just another SEC road trip. The ghosts of Bear Bryant and Nick Saban still haunt those sidelines. Alabama fans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat either. “Been there before with Oklahoma long time before in the early 2000s,” Brent Venables added. “Beautiful venue, it’s gonna be a tremendous challenge, Alabama fans are as good as they get.” That was in 2003 when he was OU’s co-defensive coordinator when the Sooners upset the Tide 20-13 under the Tuscaloosa lights. Now, 22 years later, he returns as the HC, tasked with trying to outduel an Alabama team with revenge on their mind.
Last season, Oklahoma won again. In what was otherwise a forgettable 6-7 season, the Sooners beat Kalen DeBoer’s team 24-3 in Norman. That was Jalen Milroe at the helm but this year, it’s Ty Simpson’s show in Alabama. The redshirt junior waited his turn and he’ll get his shot at revenge on November 15. Meanwhile, OU is also rolling with a new QB in John Mateer, a former Washington State Cougar and No. 3 overall transfer QB, per On3. It’s a high-upside swing, but Brent Venables knows he needs more than potential. He needs wins. Especially ones that come in places like Bryant-Denny. Also this year, he’ll also be filling in the role of former DC Zac Alley by calling plays. Well, he’s a defensive-minded coach and at least one of his players is quite optimistic.
Brent Venables’ defender believes in him
If there’s one guy ready to ride into the fire with his head coach, it’s OU’s breakout edge rusher R Mason Thomas. He’s one of the team’s SEC Media Day representatives who echoed full confidence in his head coach’s hands-on return to play-calling. “It’s the same thing,” he said. “You would think it would be some kind of drop-off, but he’s a defensive mind. He’s always on the defensive side of the b—, so it’s the same. It’s no drop-off… We weren’t nervous. We weren’t frustrated. We weren’t rattled. It was the same.”
That familiarity comes from years of grinding through the growing pains of installing a Clemson-style defense in Norman. “When I was getting recruited at OU, it was a lot of Clemson film,” Thomas said. “We have so much film of us doing it now so we’re watching ourselves.” After flirting with the NFL, he returned to chase unfinished business and wash out the sour taste of 2024. He knows the outside noise is real but it’s nothing new for OU. “We know what the standard is, what the people in the team in the past have set,” he added. “So I know if we can put our head down, we can work, focus on the journey and not the destination, we’ll be right where we want to be.”
Whether “where they want to be” includes another upset over Alabama, this time in their house, remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain. Brent Venables might not like going to Bryant-Denny but he sure knows how to win there.
The post Brent Venables Isn’t Looking Forward to This SEC Road Trip on Oklahoma’s 2025 Schedule appeared first on EssentiallySports.
