No. 15 Oklahoma hosts No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday in a matchup crawling with storylines. The game marks the first ever SEC conference game for the Sooners, and it's the kind of marquee game OU fans hoped for when they joined the conference.
On the other sideline, though, former Sooners national champion quarterback Josh Heupel leads Tennessee. Heupel was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma for years until he was fired by Bob Stoops in 2014 and went through his own transformation. Now, he brings Tennessee into his old stomping grounds as a touchdown favorite.
The last two times these programs played was in 2015 when Baker Mayfield led a come-from-behind victory at Neyland Stadium to kick off the Sooners' first trip to the College Football Playoff. The win helped usher in a period of six straight 11-win seasons, pandemic year aside, and elevate the Sooners back to the top tier of college football.
Oklahoma's matchup against Tennessee marks one of the highest-profile home games in program history -- but is it a must-win for third-year coach Brent Venables? Oklahoma needed late surges to survive Houston and Tulane in nonconference play behind a battered offensive line. The longtime defensive coordinator is 19-10 in two seasons, but only 10-8 against conference opponents as a Big 12 member. Here's the case for whether this is a pivotal game in the Venables tenure.
Why Tennessee is a must-win game for Oklahoma
This single game isn't going to make or break Venables' tenure either way, but that doesn't diminish the mistakes. Let's start with the obvious fact that this is Oklahoma's first conference game as an SEC school, and it comes at home, in primetime, against a Tennessee team that hasn't been that great on the road under Josh Heupel.
If the Volunteers were to walk into The Palace on the Prairie and come out with a comfortable win, that would set off a blaring klaxon on Oklahoma's direction under Venables, especially since he's had the better part of two years to prepare his team for a move to the SEC. Tennessee is capable of controlling this game with a stifling defense and a run game that few teams have been able to consistently stop.
Also, looking ahead at Oklahoma's schedule, the Sooners need to steal a couple games at some point if they want to think about making it to a decent bowl game. It's going to be easier to do that at home, even if it is against Tennessee, than it would be on the road against the likes of Ole Miss or LSU, or in the Cotton Bowl against top-ranked Texas.
Basically, it's about sending a message. Either the Sooners -- and Venables -- are ready for the SEC, or they aren't. We'll find out Saturday. --Will Backus
Why Tennessee is not a must-win game for Oklahoma
To be clear, beating Tennessee would help matters at Oklahoma quite a bit. The Sooners played less-than-encouraging games against Houston and Tulane in nonconference play and have five games against top-10 opponents on the schedule. This is the biggest on-campus football moment at Oklahoma in more than a decade. The fact that Tennessee is coached by the program hero OU pushed out of town only adds to the stakes.
At the same time, nothing that happens on Saturday -- against one of the top teams in the country -- will impact Oklahoma's plans. The Sooners committed to a full-scale organizational rebuild of the program under Venables through high school recruiting. Given the chance to reevaluate, Oklahoma doubled down by signing Venables to a fully guaranteed extension through 2029. While there is precedent for eating spectacular buyouts (hello Texas A&M), the message was clear: Brent is the guy leading us into the SEC. Oklahoma also inked the extension after it was already known that the Sooners would be starting a first-year quarterback and five new offensive linemen with new play callers on both sides of the ball.
Certainly, Oklahoma fans hoped that Venables' process would be ready by the time the Sooners entered the SEC. Losing to Tennessee the same week Texas debuts as the No. 1 team in the country would lead to some real weird vibes in Norman, Oklahoma, especially if the game gets out of hand. Still, the Sooners are playing the long game. Nothing that happens this weekend (or this season, for the most part) should push them off. -- Shehan Jeyarajah
