Sooner legend says Oklahoma needs the challenge of the SEC

There have been a lot of questions posed to coaches and players about Oklahoma’s readiness for the SEC at this week’s media days. Certainly there will be adjustments to the style of play and the overall talent, but one Sooner legend believes the SEC is just what Oklahoma needed.

Too many times, especially in recent years, would Oklahoma be caught off guard by a less-talented team. Whether it was 2020 when they were beaten in consecutive weeks by Kansas State and Iowa State. Or 2021 when it was Baylor and Oklahoma State that spoiled a strong start to the year. Then there was the 2022 season, which was a debacle. Even Brent Venables admitted that the Sooners didn’t handle success well after beating Texas in the Red River Rivalry game in 2023.

After that performance, Oklahoma struggled with UCF and then lost back-to-back games to Kansas and Oklahoma State to completely erase their 7-0 start to the season.

Teddy Lehman , Oklahoma’s last Butkus Award winner and co-host of The Oklahoma Breakdown , took to X to clarify where OU stands heading into the SEC.

Lehman said, “I think the disconnect between SEC fans/media and OU followers is they think the Big 12 helped us because it was easy. We know it hurt us in recruiting, in competitiveness, in exposure, and in countless other avenues. We needed the challenge. We’ve been sleep walking.”

Oklahoma’s recruiting on the offensive side of the ball was pretty good under Lincoln Riley, but it certainly fell off on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma felt the ramifications of the 2019 class underperforming.

And during a run in which the Sooners won six-straight Big 12 titles and made the playoffs four times, there was a sense that they could show up and simply win because they were more talented. There was at times a lack of focus that jumped up and bit them because they were typically the more talented team, at least when they played someone other than Texas.

That won’t be the case anymore. Oklahoma may recruit better than other programs, but SEC teams typically recruit better than Big 12 schools. So the talent they face each week in the fall will be on more equal footing. You can’t take a week off mentally in the SEC.

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