Oklahoma reverses the clock in Red River triumph

Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterOct 9, 2023, 08:00 AM ET

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Dave Wilson is an editor for ESPN.com given that 2010. He formerly operated at The Dallas Early Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.DALLAS– Let’s set the scene for Oklahoma: The Sooners and their second-year coach are in need of a signature win, with the rival Longhorns offering a golden chance. A smooth, lefty quarterback provides the triumph that springboards him into the Heisman Trophy race and the group into the national title discussion.The year is 2000, coach Bob Stoops and QB Josh Heupel have actually taken apart Texas 63-14 and wind up

winning it all that season.On Saturday, the Sooners didn’t blow Texas out of the water in their 34-30 win. However a year after suffering the biggest loss to the

Longhorns in school history, a 49-0 embarrassment, this year’s lefty signal-caller, Dillon Gabriel, landed a destructive knockout blow with a five-play, 62-second game-winning touchdown drive that provided a declaration of its own: The Sooners have their swagger back, and it feels a terrible lot like it did 23 years ago.Echoes of 2000? Do not take our word for it. Listen to somebody who was there.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated”It reminds me a bit of that, 1999 to 2000,”Oklahoma coach Brent Venables stated Saturday afternoon. “No offense to these guys, however we had a

bunch of misfits

back in 2000. We

didn’t know how excellent we could be.” Venables was a second-year Oklahoma assistant in 2000. He had actually shown up with Bob Stoops a year before, taking over a humbled Oklahoma program that had actually gone 5-6 the year before under John Blake, the last season of Blake’s 12-22 three-year tenure.Venables was likewise a first-year head coach in 2022, who went 6-7, the Sooners ‘first losing season considering that Blake’s last. He took control of after the stunning departure of Lincoln Riley for USC and the transfer of

several crucial players, including Caleb Williams, who won the Heisman Prize last season, and Spencer Rattler, another former beginning QB. Then Texas took place. Fairly or not, it’s the kind of loss that begins raising concerns about whether the Sooners had landed the right coach.Venables just coached in his 15th Red River Competition. He knows the rules at Oklahoma. Start 0-2 versus the Longhorns and those concerns start getting louder. That hasn’t occurred because Gary Gibbs lost his first two in 1989 and 1990. The 2022 Sooners lost in your home to Kansas State and Baylor. They were burnt out by TCU on the road early in the year and lost four games, including the Cheez-It Bowl versus Florida State, by a field goal. They ranked 122nd out of 131 nationally in total defense. But most notably, they were humiliated at the Cotton Bowl.”My hands are all over that, and the players that played for us last year, they were harmed from that too,”Venables said.” Eventually, my task as a leader is to get the best out of them, and I did a really poor task of that.

“These Sooners started the season at No. 20 with a great deal of concerns. Venables stated before the season that 76%of his roster would be first- and second-year players. The defensive line alone included six transfers. The Sooners signed 7 ESPN 300 protective recruits, their most because the rankings began in 2006. The protective line showed up huge in a dramatic goal-line stand, packing Texas four times at the 1. Peyton Bowen, among the gems of that recruiting class, forced a fumble on a success on Quinn Ewers in the 3rd quarter.The Sooners are now 6-0 and look more like the Oklahoma that won six straight Big 12 champions before that run ended in 2021. Baker Mayfield was on the sideline Saturday throwing the horns down on the arena video screen, and the Sooners took Texas’best shot and conjured another assisting of Sooner Magic. There’s a swagger back to these Sooners.” That [2000 team] was a group, they was difficult as all get-out and they ‘d raggedy up and they simply came every day and went to work. And these guys have been exactly that. We’re a little shinier in some areas,” Venables stated, glancing to his right

to star linebacker Danny Stutsman. “However also, I think the parallels are that you didn’t understand how good we can be.” There’s a belief now in Norman. That’s the tough part in any training modification. Like in 2000, Venables has actually returned the Sooners to the top 10 and they will now be back in the national conversation. Amidst a having a hard time Big 12 field, it appears the Sooners and Longhorns are on another clash for December in a conference title rematch.At midfield Saturday after the game, Venables put on the golden hat and handed it off to his players, with a sense of gratitude.What a difference one game makes.”There’s no limitations on what this team can do, and no reasons either,”Venables stated.”We have actually got everything that we require.”