Hayes: With SEC on horizon, the Alamo Bowl is a must-win for Oklahoma
By Matt Hayes
Published:
It’s almost laughable when you think about it, this idea of Oklahoma as the little brother of Texas.
Never mind OU’s utter dominance of all things Texas in the history of the Big 12. Or the Sooners’ elite national status since Bob Stoops arrived nearly 25 years ago (and long before that).
Or the fact that Texas has been lost in the college football hinterlands for much of the past 15 years.
In the prisoner of the moment world we live in, Texas is as hot as it gets.
And Oklahoma is muddling along — even tagging along — with Texas as they head into the SEC in 2024.
If you think that’s lunacy — and no question, it is — wait and see the narrative take hold if the Sooners can’t beat Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.
Wait and see what it looks like if OU, after a bounce-back season under 2nd-year coach Brent Venables — that included handing Texas its only loss of the season, by the way — loses to a team being trumpeted as the potential new heavyweight of the new Big 12.
An Arizona team that, before coach Jedd Fisch arrived 3 years ago, was among the most nondescript Power 5 programs in college football.
“We’re always working to be better,” Venables said last week after OU landed another top-10 recruiting class, his 3rd in 3 classes. “We certainly are competitive. We want more. And we’re going to need more.”
That’s what this is all about: the future.
Not just the future of moving into the SEC, a significantly heavier lift than what Oklahoma has dealt with in any other variation of any conference it has played in. Ever.
As Venables is quick to point out: There’s more money in the SEC, there are more teams with the intent and investment to win in the SEC. There’s more danger around every fall Saturday and every available recruiting day on the calendar.
It’s no place where your star quarterback, the player who led the rebound season in 2023, decides he won’t leave for the NFL in 2024 — but that he’s not staying at Oklahoma, either. As good as those 10 wins felt this season, there’s sting in quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s bizarre transfer portal snub of the Sooners.
No amount of hyperbole about freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold, or the idea that a 6th-year player with 151 career TDs (26 rush) was afraid to compete for the job, can make that sting go away.
Especially considering this team was a handful of plays from an unbeaten regular season. Who knows what would’ve happened in a rematch with Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game, but the Sooners weren’t that far from finding out with a 5-point loss at Kansas and a 3-point loss at Oklahoma State.
So even with the loss of Gabriel’s transfer to Oregon, and even with the expected loss of star linebacker Danny Stutsman to the NFL, the Sooners aren’t as far behind Texas as it looks. How could they be — they won the damn game this year — their 17th win over the Longhorns in their past 25 games.
Since Venables arrived in 2022, Oklahoma has had recruiting classes of 8th, 5th and 8th in the nation, according to the 247Sports composite. In the same span, the Texas classes under Steve Sarkisian were 3rd, 3rd and 5th.
In other words, there’s not that much difference in talent. And more to the point: Texas has out-recruited OU many times over the years, and OU has still won 11 of the past 15 games between the teams.
But that doesn’t mean the Alamo Bowl isn’t important. In fact, it’s critical.
It’s against an Arizona team that’s excited to play on a large(r) stage, in the home state of its new conference for 2024, and against the one school that dominated the Big 12 more than any other in conference history.
The Wildcats, like OU, were a handful of plays from a significantly better season. Two of Arizona’s losses were in overtime (at Mississippi State, at USC), and the other was by 7 points to unbeaten Washington — in the first start for freshman quarterback Noah Fifita after replacing injured starter Jayden de Laura.
It took the Wildcats 2 weeks to find themselves with Fifita — and 2 tough losses — before they won 6 straight to finish the season (4 of the 6 against ranked teams).
So yeah, this game means something for Arizona — which hasn’t won 10 games in a season since 2014, and has won 10 games only 3 times in program history.
Meanwhile, there is Oklahoma, finishing a legendary run in one conference and girding for transition into another.
“It’s all-encompassing,” Venables said of the SEC. “It’s incredibly competitive. It’s relentless. It’s year-round, it’s challenging. It’s a very real competition. And one that isn’t just going to go away.”
And one that needs a loud entry.
Not the soft puttering of following 10-gallon Texas.
Matt Hayes is a national college football writer for Saturday Down South. You can hear him daily from 12-3 p.m. on 1010XL in Jacksonville. Follow on Twitter @MattHayesCFB
