Oklahoma Sooners players just helped prove after beating Texas that Brent Venables is still building something special
The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Texas Longhorns, and after the game, it’s clear Brent Venables has built something special.
The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Texas Longhorns in what may have been one of the best games between these two rivals in quite some time. Oklahoma did it in all three phases, scoring a special teams touchdown, a defensive touchdown, and an offensive touchdown.
The Sooners also did it as the more beaten-up team, with more injuries, a roster that probably isn’t as talented, and far less NIL money spent than Texas has poured into its roster. The season hasn’t gone the way the players planned, and it hasn’t gone the way Sooners head coach Brent Venables planned either. That’s what made this win so big for the program and for the players. After what they’ve gone through the last four or five weeks, these players deserved a win like this.
The emotion after the game told the whole story
Some of the most telling moments came from players who didn’t even take the field. Michael Fasusi didn’t play, but that didn’t stop him from feeling overwhelming emotion once it ended. Parker Thune captured it on video. Fasusi was yelling and hugging everybody while crying, shouting, “God did,” and telling his teammates, “I love you so much.”
Moments like that have to make Sooners fans happy. Oklahoma might not be a College Football Playoff team, and I don’t think that’s a hot take. But the Sooners beat Texas. To this fan base, and to the one in Austin, sometimes that’s all that matters.
In this rivalry, win that game and have a bad season, and you’re still kind of good. Lose that game and have a bad season, and it’s unacceptable. Then freshman cornerback LeBron Bauer made it clear what this program means to him after the game.
“I’m not going anywhere; I’ll be a Sooner for the rest of my life. This has completely changed my life,” Bauer said.
Brent Venables is building more than a winning record
Reactions like these show Venables is still building a strong football program and developing great young men along the way. It isn’t only about winning every single game. It’s about turning these players into great men, building something that will last, and creating a brotherhood and relationships that carry into the future.
To be fair, winning football games matters a great deal. It may even be the deciding factor when grading a coach’s tenure. But Venables is clearly getting the job done in many other areas, and you could see it on the players’ faces after the game. John Mateer couldn’t wrap his head around what had just happened.
“I can’t believe we did it, I can’t believe we did it,” Mateer said.
Tate Sandell, meanwhile, was talking a little trash after the final whistle, shouting, “Where’s my hat, where’s my hat?”
These are the kinds of reactions you want to see from a locker room. They show that the players are bought in, even in a year that hasn’t gone their way. No matter how the rest of the schedule plays out, this win over Texas proves Venables is still building something special in Norman.
