The Oklahoma Sooners new era will be entertaining as they enter the SEC. For years, the SEC has been known as the best conference in college football, and a blue blood program like Oklahoma will fit right in.
Still, the Sooners are entering a new era. Jackson Arnold is taking over at quarterback and Brent Venables is entering his third season as the program’s head coach with much to prove. The SEC is no joke, and the Sooners will soon learn that as they are getting thrown into the fire.
With the conference’s additions of Oklahoma and Texas, Brad Crawford of 247Sports ranked every head coach in the SEC ahead of the 2024 college football season. Venables was ranked No. 10 in the SEC by Crawford as the third-year head coach has a 16-10 record with the Sooners.
“A 10-win season with the Sooners showed Venables has some resiliency as a head coach after rebounding from a lackluster start at Oklahoma. He recruits at an elite level and has a quarterback in Jackson Arnold who, most believe, should be a solid option the next couple of years as the program enters the SEC. Venables job does get harder annually facing a less favorable slate, comparatively,” Crawford wrote.
Venables is taking on a huge task as he’s going to have to take on programs like Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss and Missouri next season. Those programs all finished in the upper half of the final AP Top 25 poll a season ago, and they’re all going to be tough teams to play again next season.
Also entering the SEC for the first season next year is Jeff Lebby, who is Mississippi State’s head coach. The former Oklahoma offensive coordinator is taking his first head coaching position in the toughest conference in college football.
“Lebby comes to Starkville from Oklahoma via Ole Miss and is known for being a hot-shot play caller. Mississippi State is not an easy job, but it’s a place you can win at with the right combination of talent development, under-the-radar staffing and elite scheme. It’s vital for the Bulldogs’ administration to give Lebby time considering what he has inherited after Zach Arnett’s abysmal one-year failure,” Crawford wrote.
It’s no secret that Lebby is unproven, which makes sense for the No. 15 ranking out of 16 head coaches in the SEC. For Oklahoma fans, watching Lebby in the SEC is just another storyline to follow in a season that will have much to offer.
READ MORE: OU Football: Sooners Steep Underdogs to Texas Longhorns For 2024 Matchup
More must-reads: