All Sooners

One Big Thing On Oklahoma-Texas Looks at the Past and Explores the Future

Brent Venables and the Sooners could be considered favorites, which means he needs to even his record against the Longhorns now.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (right) and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (right) and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Oklahoma Sooners

This game is big. Maybe you already knew that.

But maybe you didn’t know just how big.

In his three seasons against Texas, Brent Venables is in possession of two blowout losses and an unlikely comeback win that required more than just a little Sooner Magic.

Venables got some bad luck when starting quarterback John Mateer — at the time the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy — went down three weeks ago with a broken thumb.

But as Venables likes to say, nobody is gonna feel sorry for OU.

Venables got some good quarterback news about 10 months ago, when Michael Hawkins decided to stay in Norman. That meant the Sooners had a backup QB in case something happened to their hotshot transfer.

Well, something happened. Then something else happened.

Venables got some more good luck when Mateer was deemed healthy enough to be upgraded to "probable" for Saturday's game, per the SEC Availability Report on Thursday night.

Now, with an experienced quarterback and a dominant defense, it’s on Venables and his staff to not get outcoached by Steve Sarkisian and their Texas counterparts. 

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Matchup: Oklahoma Run vs. Texas Run Defense
Matchup: Special Teams

The Sark vs. BV matchup is a good one. The one time Venables was in charge of the defense (Ted Roof was DC in 2023 in name only, apparently), Texas still scored 30 (down from 49 and 34 in the other two years), but OU won the game.

Sark had a playoff team these last two years. OU wasn't close. A year after winning the Big 12 for the third and final time, the Horns played for an SEC title and made a playoff run. Texas played 16 games last season as Sark seemed to catch lightning in a bottle.

Meanwhile, the Sooners languished behind injuries to another 6-7 record.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, if you bet on this game in June, you got Texas as a 10 1/2-point favorite. If you bet on this game two weeks ago, you got the Longhorns as a 6 1/2-point favorite. If you bet on this game Monday, you got Texas as a 3 1/2-point favorite.

If you bet on this game now, you get Texas as a 1 1/2-point favorite — but hurry, because Wednesday, OU was favored by 1 1/2, according to ESPN Bet. Texas was again the betting favorite all day Thursday, or at least until Mateer's status was upgraded. Now the Sooners are favored by 1 1/2. Stay tuned, because it's likely to go back and forth before Saturday's 2:30 p.m. kickoff.

OU is ranked No. 6 in both polls. Texas is unranked by the AP and hanging around at No. 19 in the coaches poll. OU is undefeated with home wins over Michigan and Auburn. Texas is 3-2 with road losses at Ohio State and Florida.

For Venables to set this thing right and break even with the Longhorns, he’ll need Hawkins to avoid catastrophic errors, and he’ll need to win the field position game. He’ll need somebody — Isaiah Sategna, Grayson Miller, Tate Sandell — to produce a big play or two on special teams. And he’ll need his “dog pound” defensive line to play like the hungry pack they’ve been throughout the first five games and get after Texas QB Arch Manning.

Oklahoma Sooners, Tate Sandel
Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell enters the week as one of 13 kickers who has hit two field goals of 50 yards or more. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If those things happen, Oklahoma will win in a rout and Venables will look like a genius again. 

If they don’t happen, OU will lose and Venables will be 1-3 against the Longhorns and staring at the back half of a schedule that includes five teams (No. 4 Ole Miss, No. 8 Alabama, No. 11 LSU, No. 12 Tennessee and No. 14 Missouri) ranked in the top 14.

Win, and more wins should follow, perhaps into the College Football Playoff. Lose, and who knows what direction this thing could go — and quickly.

  • Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
  • If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER. 
Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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