Last season was a departure from the success Baker Mayfield is used to seeing from his beloved Oklahoma Sooners.
Brent Venables had Oklahoma looking awesome during the onset of his tenure, but the wheels fell off over the second half of Year 1 on the job. In a similar situation after their undefeated start this season, Mayfield joined The Pat McAfee Show to explain why he’s of the belief that the Sooners are roaring and ready to show the college football world they’re for real versus the Texas Longhorns.
“I’m excited. You know, last year obviously wasn’t a good year for them. Lost so many guys to the transfer portal. But Venables is a dawg,” Mayfield said. “He’s got that defense playing with their hair on fire, and that’s the best way that he knows how to do it, and our offense can score on anybody.
“So I mean, I’m looking forward to the matchup of our offensive group against their defense, because I don’t think either has seen the competition that they’re going to see tomorrow.”
Alas, there aren’t many bigger names you can have endorse you if you’re Venables, as Mayfield wholeheartedly believes in the Sooners’ leader. Now, it’s up to Venables to make good on that belief.
Time will tell if Oklahoma can get some revenge on Texas this weekend, but Baker Mayfield will be watching with a keen eye on Saturday’s events.
Kirk Herbstreit believes Texas game will say more about who Oklahoma is
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit spoke with Bob Stoops on ‘Conversations with Coach’ to discuss No. 12 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Texas. Although they’re just as undefeated as the Longhorns, Herbstreit believes we have a much better chance of learning more about OU by the end of the weekend.
“I’ve watched Oklahoma but I think, this week, at least as an outsider? I think all of us are, obviously, going to learn a lot more about who they really are,” said Herbstreit.
Still, even for an outsider, Herbstreit knew more than most about the Sooners. He went on to speak well about both of their units, which each currently rank in the top-five nationally, and what has been built already in just over a year under Brent Venables in Norman.
“I’m a big fan of Jeff Lebby and what they do on that side of the football. You know what they’re capable of doing, especially with Dillon (Gabriel),” said Herbstreit. “They seem to have more playmakers around him. They seem to be, in the second year, just playing faster on that side of the ball.”
“Then, everybody knew – Brett learned under you and Mike (Stoops). I mean everybody knew his reputation, even with Clemson, as one of the better defensive minds, one of the more innovative defensive minds in the game,” Herbstreit noted.
Oklahoma sits at 5-0, but has done so against fairly flat competition. Their slate has been a bit lackluster, and Texas is on a whole other level from what they’ve seen before. For Herbstreit, that makes it the perfect proving ground, in a rivalry game no less, for the Sooners to make a statement that they’re as real as anybody else by the start of October.
On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.
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