Joel Klatt sees the differences in planning between OU and Missouri

The Oklahoma Sooners are about to begin the main part of their 2024 football schedule. Without wanting to offend the FCS Maine Black Bears, the Sooners have finished their non-conference and SEC play has begun.

When they host the Tennessee Volunteers, OU will be a home underdog, which is uncharted territory for a team that has been one of the most successful teams of the 21st century.

But the past doesn’t dictate the present. Oklahoma needs to win football games. Entering the SEC, there’s no misunderstanding the challenges ahead. Six of the Sooners’ remaining nine games are against teams ranked in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Five of those teams are ranked in the top 10 in the nation. It’s a grueling series of games that OU must navigate if they want to find their way into the College Football Playoff.

In a recent episode of his podcast, Joel Klatt, college football commentator for Fox Sports, describes the difficulties that lie ahead for the Sooners.

“Brent Venables has a terrible schedule ahead of him… If you’re Brent Venables and anybody from OU, how can you look at your schedule and then look at Missouri’s schedule and think, ‘Time out. Are we in the same league? What’s going on?’… They’re not in the same hemisphere. You might as well compare a Group of Five (Mizzou) schedule to an NFL (Oklahoma) schedule. They’re miles apart. I think Georgia could say the same thing, I think Florida could say the same thing. Those three schools look at Missouri and think, ‘Are you serious? Are you serious?’ That’s why I say — and I said it on yesterday’s episode — that Missouri’s record is going to be better than their team’s. Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s record is going to be worse than their team’s. And I think that starts this week.”

“Time out! Are we in the same league??” @joelklatt had to address the drastic differences between Missouri’s schedule and that of other SEC teams 👀 pic.twitter.com/7ukhKvTPmH

— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) 19 September 2024

To quote the great Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.” Are we just going to jump to the conclusion that Oklahoma’s record will be worse than their team’s? Klatt is not wrong about the schedule differences between Oklahoma and Missouri and other SEC schools. But that’s just the way it is this year. Oklahoma’s decades of success before joining the SEC showed conference planners that one of the most successful programs in college football history could handle it.

And we don’t know how well they’ll handle it. A lot of analysts are predicting Oklahoma will struggle. And they may. But there’s also a chance they can succeed in their first year in the SEC. They have a coach who knows what it takes to be successful against these teams.

Brent Venables has built a roster, especially on defense, that is increasingly looking like an SEC squad. They have good size and talent on both sides of the ball and Venables has done a lot of recruiting since arriving in Norman. OU has one of the higher blue-chip ratios in the country and has a number of players that will be playing on this squad on Sundays.

Yes, the schedule is tough, but that doesn’t mean Oklahoma can’t handle it.

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