Team No. 128, take two.
A week of self-evaluation for Oklahoma, for self-reflection is in the books. The Sooners went back to work this week, looking to make the most of the final five weeks of the regular season.
Head coach Brent Venables, the staff, the players and the fans have run through the gamut of emotions in the initial seven games.
OU entered the season with massive expectations, with a belief that Venables’ approach was going to instill a championship culture right from the jump.
No growing pains, no struggles, just getting everything figured out and rolling from there. And the first three games (3-0) had fans believing that more than ever.
The goal wasn’t just a Big 12 championship, but a spot in the college football playoff and then work from there.
Those goals came crashing down when conference play started, losing the first three games and now standing at 4-3 overall and 1-3 in Big 12 action.
A season of promise turned to despair but might have turned that corner once again to optimism to what this team, Team No. 128, is going to do.
“We've had to reset some of our goals, what's in front of us right now,” Venables said. “OK, here's what we control – you've got five games, five straight weeks.
“You've got to make the most of it. You want to have a season where you have no regret, you've got to give everything you've got. What we've been asking from the get-go, the last 10 months, you continue to put everything you've got into it.”
The goal isn’t a playoff spot. Arlington and the Big 12 championship doesn’t seem like in the realm of possibility.
Two more wins, and OU is bowl eligible. But these final five games? Venables even said it. OU can win them all or lose them all. There are no gimmes this year in the Big 12.
To put it bluntly, you’re going to get what you earn. You’re going to achieve what you put the work in for, what you prepared to do.
“For our team, just told them all they can write is what we do moving forward,” Venables said. “So we're gonna be judged again by how we finish. This game is about mental toughness and fortitude and perseverance and the will to win.
“And so we’ve got a chance to put that on display each of the next five weeks. If we put it all together as we've shown a few times this year, we got everything we need. That's what I know.”
It’s the consistency Venables and OU are searching for. In that self-eval period, Venables noticed what everybody has seen in a remarkable inconsistency from a game to game, quarter to quarter performance.
A three-game losing streak put OU’s backs against the wall, but it doesn’t look like it broke the spirit of anybody.
And if some of these guys only have five regular season games left, they’re going to do whatever it takes to make them memorable.
“Regardless of wins and losses, I love this game,” linebacker DaShaun White said. “And I know a lot of these guys love this game, love to play the game together. And so if you don't have drive to do something that you can only do – what is it? – 12 Saturdays in the year, something that you prepare a year for and you only get 12 opportunities… that's a problem that I can’t understand.
“You’re looking at it and you’re thinking you have time. Then you look up and you have five regular season games left. I always encourage younger guys to not believe the myth you have time because you really don’t. You’re gonna look up one day and it’s over.”
Venables is stressing finishing. A big picture look at how they physically and mentally finish the season. But you can take a closer examination on it for what that means on the field.
“The biggest thing is when we have the opportunity to go run the football and it’s blocked for six yards we need to gain more than six yards or when we’ve blocked a play or a picture for five yards, gaining more than five yards,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “Find ways to win our one on ones, not just gaining what’s been blocked for us, but gaining some explosive plays when the picture isn’t perfect.”
It’s Venables’ leadership that helped the Sooners get out of the dumps. The worse it seemingly got during the three-game skid, OU stuck together.
If the Sooners can keep that kind of camaraderie the rest of the way, it’ll be another example of Venables being the right guy at the right time for a tough job.
“To me, you gotta have calmness through all of it,” Venables said. “To me, the more chaotic it gets, for me personally, the quieter it gets. It always has for whatever reason. It always will. You believe in the way that you do things. You believe in what it takes and then you just go about your business.
“What we've been through and what's lying ahead requires guts. It requires a will to win. It requires belief. It requires work. It requires mental toughness. It requires perseverance.”
And with all of that comes the opportunity to write the second chapter of who the 2022 Sooners are and what imprint they’re going to leave.