Brent Venables jokes about his 'excitement' to travel to Tuscaloosa for Alabama rematch

Although Oklahoma‘s first season in the SEC didn’t go quite as well as head coach Brent Venables probably hoped it would, the Sooners earned their first marquee conference win over Alabama in their second to last regular season game. The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but Oklahoma outscored them 24-0 over the final three quarters to cement the win.

This season however, Venables and the Sooners will travel to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama on Nov. 15. Oklahoma has won two of its last three meetings against the Tide (last season and the 2014 Sugar Bowl).

Venables discussed that game and the pressure facing the Crimson Tide at this year’s SEC Media Days event.

“I’m excited to go to Tuscaloosa,” Venables said sarcastically. “I’m a loyalist and traditionalist so I love that part of it. But there will be nothing ‘loving’ about going to Bryant-Denny Stadium. I’ve been there before with Oklahoma a long time in the early 2000s. It’s a beautiful venue and will be a tremendous challenge. Alabama fans are as good as it gets.”

Venables says Alabama ‘will be waiting for Oklahoma’

Oklahoma‘s head coach was the co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach in Norman during their last trip to Tuscaloosa. That occurred on Sept. 6, 2003, where the Sooners came out on top 20-13.

“I think that game against Alabama (last season) showed a lot of different things to me,” Venables said. “It showed what we’re capable of when we get out of our way. It showed a team that believed in one another and certainly themselves and their coaches. It showed we had the guts and toughness to do the really hard stuff and keeping dragging ourselves off the mat. Claw your way back, figure it out, find a way, punch first, punch back, punch last. That type of mentality, even when things aren’t going your way. I think pressure and adversity exposes people and from me I thought it exposed a lot of the best qualities that are in our locker room.”

“I also think that was a game that highlighted the incremental improvement that was taking place with a bunch of young guys. I looked back at the first half and froze the tape and we have nine freshmen on the offensive side of the ball. It wasn’t a badge of honor and certainly we recognize the ability, the talent and the capabilities of a program like Alabama but for us it provided a bit of wind in our sail. Unfortunately we had to go on the road to LSU and at the start of the fourth quarter it was 24-17 and we couldn’t figure out how to get it done. That being said, they’ll be waiting for Oklahoma and that’s for sure.”