The Sooners are having a big, big sad after Mizzou, and it's probably because reality is setting in. After listening to some of their shows, a majority clearly seem to be done with Venables. The problem is that his buyout is $44 million, and they really don't have the resources to cover that as well as compete in NIL. Financially they're stuck for next year, and on top of that they're going to have to throw a lot of money to get a decent OC, like Texas did toward the end of Strong's tenure.
It seems pretty clear that in this new era, starting from behind and facing a daunting schedule again next year, OU will most likely find its level in the mid- to lower-tier of the SEC for a long time. The following team all have much better financial, recruiting, or geography advantages than OU:
Texas
Texas A&M
LSU
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee
You would then put OU in the next tier with the likes of: Missouri, Arkansas, Auburn, and Mississippi. OU has history on its side, but as we've seen with Nebraska, that only goes so far. In the SEC they are not a centrally located team like they were in the Big 8 or Big 12, but rather they're on the periphery like Missouri. What we saw last night is probably they're future, fighting the Missouris of the world to be on the cusp of the top 25. I'm here for it.