Column

NORMAN — Brent Venables' former boss has seen his standard drop in recent years.

Dabo Swinney, trying to lead a season away from the abyss, took to the podium earlier this week, where he talked about the significance of his Clemson Tigers reaching six wins.

"We're trying to get a sixth win," Swinney said. "Nobody sets out to have six wins, and you say that's a pretty low bar. And it is, in totality. But you talk about consistency? If we could get a sixth win, that would be 27 years in a row for Clemson."

Well, he’s correct about the numbers and the streak. Swinney even described an exclusive club of programs who have reached the coveted six-win mark every season since 1999 in Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson.

Right now, Venables might be drinking the same Kool-Aid at this point. OU is 4-4 with its first trip to The Swamp this weekend against a ranked Florida team to look forward to. Then the Sooners face two more ranked opponents in addition to an equally disappointing, albeit talented, Texas A&M team.

Not to mention, Venables is asking a tight ends coach in his first year of coaching at the collegiate ranks to run the offense after dismissing Ben Arbuckle. 

Oklahoma reaching Swinney’s new goal of six wins seems unlikely, let alone winning out to finish 8-4. 

Which begs the question — if OU miraculously finishes 8-4 and Jason Witten shows an ability to unlock something with what appears to be a broken offense, is the season salvaged?

No it isn’t.

There are multiple standards at play here: The program’s, the coaches’/players’ and the fans’.

The coaches and players would welcome an 8-4 finish. You don’t put in the time and effort required to coach or play, much less put your body on the line if you’re a player, and have a defeatist attitude if you take the field.

Venables alluded to this earlier in the week when he said the team still has “meaningful football” left to be played. He doubled-down on that sentiment on Tuesday.

“What do you want the endgame to look like? And we want to win every game that's in front of us, the challenge that goes along with that,” Venables said. “And the opportunity to challenge the guys that are lined up against in practice every single day to get better.”

Finishing 8-4 would certainly be an achievement when placed next to the alternative of a seven-win-or-less season. Considering the ineptitude of the offense all year and the dysfunction that comes with firing a coordinator midseason, it would be a nice ending to a bad year.

The program’s standard is mirrored by its fanbase’s. Both would be in lockstep in correctly deeming this season, no matter its best-case outcome, an outright disaster. 2026 is and will be a failure on multiple fronts.

Oklahoma failed to capitalize on its College Football Playoff appearance from a year ago. They failed to sustain success for the second time in Venables’ tenure in Norman. The staff failed to identify flaws on the roster and work to correct them when the opportunities presented themselves.

Most importantly, Venables having to admit midseason that he, once again, hired the wrong guy to run his offense, is but another sign that his tenure may never reach the consistency or success everyone envisioned when he was hired in late 2021.

8-4 is a preferred outcome, and should the Sooners somehow reach that mark, it would be a positive outcome. But this is already Venables’ third failed season at Oklahoma and no win streak will change that.