NORMAN — Most weeks, the message from Brent Venables is always that the next game is the most important one.

But even he knows that this weekend is especially important.

The No. 6-ranked Tennessee Volunteers head into Norman for a showdown at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to mark the Sooners' first game in the SEC. The game will be broadcast on ABC with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit as the commentary team, with ESPN's College Gameday coming to campus for the first time since 2020.

Venables is hoping, and confident, fans will make a statement for the Sooners' first SEC home game.

"In the history of the SEC, it's really difficult and challenging to win on the road in the SEC," Venables said. "And you know, I will not be surprised if that's the kind of atmosphere that Oklahoma creates. It’s going to take that. That's part of it as well. But I think we'll have the center stage in college football on Saturday night, and our fans won't disappoint."

The topic of fan involvement and atmosphere has been a discussion in Norman for years. A video on social media circulated earlier this week featuring a 2008 press conference from then-OU coach Bob Stoops, who challenged fans to bring energy before the Sooners' clash against No. 2 Texas Tech. Fans responded with creating a memorable environment as the Sooners routed the Red Raiders 65-21.

The discussion came around again in last weekend's 34-19 win over Tulane, when sections of the stands at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium were scattered in the second half. OU linebacker Danny Stutsman issued a challenge to fans ahead of Saturday night.

“Hopefully, (the energy is) pretty good," Stutsman said Monday. "Usually, games start out great. I think (the) fourth quarter (against Tulane) wasn’t to the standard, but I’m sure Bob Stoops will call out the fans or something like that.”

Venables didn't specify whether any of the players who've been held out with injuries — including Branson Hickman, Nic Anderson, Andrel Anthony, Kendel Dolby and Gentry Williams — will be available. However, all SEC teams will begin providing official injury reports starting on Wednesdays, and they will be updated daily up until kickoff for each game.

However, OU quarterback Jackson Arnold indicated on Monday that Anderson will be back on Saturday.

"Continuity, consistency, confidence comes from having a set group of guys," Venables said. "You look at linebacker where we were a year ago, certainly better than Year 1 when we only had three guys who could go out there and play. Year 2, all of our backups were freshman and they played like freshmen. They played like this. You mention Kobie, Kobie could not go out and play. He and Kip could not play winning football for us.

"Same thing with guys who aren’t practicing, it’s hard to play winning football unless you have this depth of experience."

Thomas was given the award after his dominant fourth-quarter performance in last week's win over Tulane, totaling three sacks, a pass break-up, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

It's been a tough journey for Thomas, who dealt with nagging injuries through his first two seasons. But things have been coming together for the junior defensive end.

"He’s got incredible faith," Venables said. "Comes from a single mom. Very spiritual family, great support. Great foundation. His perspective is pretty strong along the way. Through the frustration, he’d be the first to tell you (he was) very frustrated. High ankle sprains, sometimes you wish you’d rather — all things being said, a fracture is better than a high ankle sprain. Because the sprain is every bit as painful but it takes time. Different than you can put screws and a cast on and six weeks you can get out of that thing and be better than ever.

"Then Coach Chavis does a great job relationally with his guys. He put him in a good head space and continued to believe in him and helped him to travel the choppy waters that come along."

The junior linebacker made his first career start against Tulane, logging 43 snaps and four tackles while finishing with a rush grade of 86.9, per Pro Football Focus.

McKinzie's insertion into the starting lineup was notable as he saw more playing time than Kip Lewis, who began the year as the starter. It was an encouraging game for McKinzie, who has fought for playing time since arriving on campus in 2022.

"I bet you one of the things he might say, he’s got (an) amazing family so they give him great support," Venables said. "Instead of peppering him with negative seeds like, ‘Maybe you need to go somewhere else. You need to start over.’ Really just supporting him and (saying), ‘Hey man, hang in there. This is part of the growth. You’ll be alright.’

And then his teammates. I like to say it’s a lot of encouragement from his coaches, but teammates are the one to me that have been patient with him, have helped him think the right way, nurtured his development process. ‘Hey man, let’s go watch film together.’ And Kobie’s an incredibly mature guy. He’s a self-starter. He’s self-driven. He doesn’t need anybody else to show him where to turn the machine on. He’s a very driven, consistent young man that just has a lot of really good habits that have helped expedite his growth and development too over the course of a couple of years.