The Alamo Bowl Will Allow Oklahoma to Turn the Page Headed Into 2022

Oklahoma football is in a state of flux.

Brent Venables’ appointment as head coach has ushered in a wave of excitement and anticipation for the 2022 season, yet there’s still unfinished business in 2021.

OU still has one game left on the schedule this year, a date with the Oregon Ducks in the Alamo Bowl.

And though there will be plenty of new faces next year, the likes of Calvin Thibodeaux, Jamar Cain and Brian Odom have returned to Norman to help send the Sooners into 2022 with one last win.

Even the players feel as though the Alamo Bowl is stuck in a weird in-between, playing both the role of 2021 finale and 2022 appetizer.

“It’s closing the book on one chapter but at the same time opening the book on a new chapter,” defensive end Reggie Grimes said. “I think, especially with our coaches coming back and coaching this game, I think there’s more of finality in it. This will be the last game we will have with these guys, a lot of them who we’ve been with since the beginning.”

Grimes said he feels especially connected to his position coach, Cain. They arrived on campus together, and Grimes said he wants to finish strong with Cain on the sidelines one last time.

Linebacker DaShaun White said the game will serve as a sort of closure for some of the guys on the team, as the departure of Lincoln Riley was tough on a lot of current Sooners.

“There's a new shot at… sort of new life in the same sense,” White said. “Because I think that a lot of people were — I mean, a lot of people were really broken from what happened.

“So like I said, new opportunity, new life. And I think that always sort of pumps people up, you know, just new opportunities to go and attack it.”

The Sooners will be shorthanded on the field as well as the sideline in San Antonio.

Offensively, Austin Stogner, Spencer Rattler and Jadon Haselwood have all left the team via the transfer portal. On the other side of the ball, Isaiah Thomas, Perrion Winfrey, Nik Bonitto and Brian Asamoah have all opted out of the game to begin preparations for the NFL Draft.

In their absence, plenty of their younger understudies will have an opportunity to put their skills on full display, especially defensively, in hopes of turning some heads on the incoming coaching staff and getting an early jump on a position battle in the spring.

“With the new coaching staff, it’s an audition – a tryout,” Grimes said. “Again, it’s closing the book on one chapter but opening the book on a new chapter.”

But for every player, the Alamo Bowl will represent the opportunity to go out on a high, a nice ending to a roller coaster season in Norman.

“It’s the end to a great year,” wide receiver Marvin Mims said. “We’re 10-2 right now, and also it’s going to be the start of something new under Coach Venables. With Coach Stoops coaching, it’s going to be great for every player in there.

“We’re going to go out and give it our all. We want to close out this year strong and have something to look forward to coming back in January when we come back to workouts.”

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