Oklahoma's Resiliency Was Forged by 2024 Heartbreak

When the Sooners shuffled off the field in Baton Rouge a year ago, it’s almost unimaginable that the next time they played LSU, they’d be putting the finishing touches on a College Football Playoff-caliber résumé. 

But one year later, Brent Venables turned a second 6-6 regular season finish into a 10-2 team that no head coach wants to face in December. 

“In the locker room, we talked about that a lot,” Venables said after OU’s 17-13 win over LSU on Saturday night. “We’ve been talking about it and we talked about it last night. We had 25 seniors that we recognized and the things that several of those guys have been through, a good part of them have been through, you’re incredibly thankful and proud.”

The 2025 Sooners are built around Venables’ defense and a strong special teams unit, but the OU offense has shown the ability to persevere and deliver when called upon. 

Oklahoma’s ability to overcome has been the difference between the 2024 disaster and this season’s special November run, something that resonates with the guys who returned to Norman after last year’s disappointing campaign. 

Read More Oklahoma 17, LSU 13

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“It’s pretty surreal,” said tight end Jaren Kanak, “and feels really good to be in that spot and kind of overcome that and be in the position we’re in now and have the opportunity now. It makes you enjoy it a little better when you have that perspective. You know what it’s like to go 6-7 and you understand that pain and what goes into that, so it feels good to have this opportunity.”

Plenty of new faces have come in to help turn things around, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but for the players who stuck through it over the last 24 months, Saturday’s win was extra special. 

“It means so much,” safety Peyton Bowen said. “So many guys could have quit, could have left. The guys that stayed here and kept going. Working in the spring, summer and what it’s all come to. It’s so inspirational and touches me and moves me about how much I want to play for this team, day-in, day-out.”

Oklahoma will have to wait another week to officially receive its bid to the CFP, but nobody in the Switzer Center will mind. 

Focus will quickly shift to getting healthy for the program’s first playoff game since 2019. 

There’s still plenty of improvement needed for the Sooners to make a major run, but OU learned how to overcome adversity throughout November, and those lessons will allow the Sooners to play meaningful football in December. 

“(It’s) just a one-play mindset and living and dying each play of the game,” Kanak said. “Understanding it’s a long game, understanding there’s a lot that could happen in a game and just moving on. Next-play mentality.”