Folks, I’ve never been alive for a season in which Oklahoma didn’t participate in a bowl game. I’m sure many of you are in the same boat. I was in utero the last time the Sooners were sitting at home in front of the TV over the holidays.

But we are on that track right now.

You are having no fun watching it. I am having no fun writing about it. Year 3 of the Brent Venables era was supposed to be the year that it all came together, the year that Oklahoma made a statement in its first season of SEC membership.

Instead, this season has completely cratered. Mercifully, there is a win on tap this weekend (fervent knocking on wood), as the Sooners come back home for their buy game against Maine. Then they get to close out the season with Missouri, Alabama and LSU. 5-7 is not merely on the table; it’s the most likely outcome at this point.

And as my esteemed colleague Jesse Crittenden pointed out on our drive home from Mississippi, it may very well be the case that the only thing preventing the Sooners from an 0-8 debut in SEC play is the fact that Payton Thorne decided to puke all over the front of his jersey in the fourth quarter of OU’s comeback win at Auburn.

Things suck right now. There is no qualifying or sugarcoating that reality.

Oklahoma played one good half of football — one SHOCKINGLY good half of football — yesterday in Oxford. And it was all immediately undone by an equally appalling half of football. Even when this team does things right, the high never lasts. The 2024 season is a truly unique study in the juxtaposition of poor offensive leadership (which has been rectified), hard-luck attrition and self-sabotage. Two of this program’s designated team captains for the loss to Ole Miss were a kicker and a walk-on special teamer. What the hell. That’s not a question; that’s a statement.

But let’s turn the focus to YOUR questions. To the mailbag we go…

vaporaide: Why do we suck?

You suck because your program has issues left and right, some of which are controllable and some of which are not. You suck because the guy you tabbed to run the offense might have been the worst football hire of the 21st century for your institution. You suck because your top five wide receivers apparently all drank from the same cursed punch bowl at the spring banquet. You suck because the VERY FIRST offensive tackle you targeted in the portal is a sentient bead curtain who only sees the field when the alternative is playing 10 men. Should I go on? I could go on for hours.

eboeboebo23: This team’s issues run deeper than just the offense: late plays coming in on defense, time management issues, poor situational awareness, undisciplined players. It has been a trend for 3 years under Brent. Should we be limiting our search to just an OC? I am not a “doomer” & I understand the recruiting ramifications as well assuredly having another poor year in ‘25 but everything we do looks like amateur hour & that won’t change overnight regardless. BV has lost me.

I can’t fault you for having that opinion. Venables’ approval rating is sinking by the week. Is it time to fire the HBC? I’m not there yet. I don’t think that’s a judgment that has to be made right now. But Venables HAS to get bowl eligible if he wants to stabilize the volatility of his job security. I was of the opinion that he would certainly get a fourth year, unless he 1) loses to Maine or 2) loses the last three games in blowout fashion. However, I’m starting to realize that a 5-7 record — regardless of the optics in hypothetical losses to Mizzou, Alabama and LSU — would probably get BV cooked one way or another. Here’s why: if you’re coming off a 5-7 season, your head ball coach is riding the hottest seat in America AND you’re losing some of your absolute best football players such as Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman, there’s not a recruit in the nation (at least not a recruit with comparable options) that’s jumping on board with your program. It’s a leap of faith that few will have the ability to muster. And Oklahoma can’t afford that. Recruiting has to be something that helps bring the program back to relevance, not something that only sinks it further into quicksand.

chicagomvp: Why did we abandon the run in the 2nd half.

OU didn’t abandon the run in the second half. Eight of the Sooners’ 13 offensive play calls in the third quarter were of the rushing persuasion. However, by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Sooners trailed 26-14 and had managed only one first down since the intermission. They had to start pressing. There wasn’t a willful obstinacy on Joe Jon Finley’s part to get away from the run in the second half. They only got away from the run when they no longer had much of a choice.