OU football entering CFP vs Alabama with chip on shoulder after 'Red November'
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NORMAN — OU football has played with a chip on its shoulder all season.
The Sooners have adopted several mantras: Grimy. Enough is enough. Hard to kill.
Make no mistake, they'll be bringing those mindsets with them into their first-round game against Alabama in the College Football Playoff, where they are 2 1/2 point underdogs. It's nothing new for coach Brent Venables, who was atop most hot seat lists prior to the season, and OU (10-2), which blew its projected 6 1/2 win total out of the water.
He feels as if the Sooners have been in this position every week.
"I know, for some people, maybe we don’t belong in the playoffs. But we’re here," Venables said Sunday. "I know a lot of teams were hoping they’d get matched up with Oklahoma, potentially, in the playoffs. Our focus, our energy, detail is to be able to play for a championship no matter how crazy that might seem to everybody else. Our team believes we have everything we need to be able to do so.
"It’s going to be incredibly challenging, but something that we’re looking forward to."
After all, in Venables' mind, he's coached in several playoff games this season — beginning with Michigan, OU's first real test early in the season, when a loss would've ramped up hot seat talks considerably. Then, against Auburn and former quarterback Jackson Arnold. And of course, in the Cotton Bowl against arch rival Texas.
Following the Sooners' loss to Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, each game that followed was an elimination game. From there, OU rattled off four consecutive victories, a stretch that has been dubbed "Red November."
"Well, every game we’ve played all year is the biggest game of my career, and surely we can’t beat the next team," Venables said with a chuckle. "And so, yeah, (the narrative) has been there. It’s been there all year; not throwing it back at anybody, but that has been the narrative, and there hasn’t been a lot of people that believed we were able to do what we’ve done.
"Whether that’s justifiable or not, who knows? It doesn’t really matter. Again, the same thing: We’ll go into this with very slim odds, whatever that means. We’re just thankful to have the opportunity that’s sitting in front of us."
The Sooners have the worst odds of any Power Four team to make a run in the playoff and win the national championship. Legendary coach Nick Saban called out OU during the CFP selection show Sunday for what he called an offensive "impediment."
Even though the wins haven't been pretty at times, Venables feels confident that the enormous magnitude of the Sooners' season will help it prepare for its first-ever home playoff game.
Whether it's warranted or not, OU has embraced an underdog role.
"Every championship team I’ve been apart of had their backs — at different times, some more, some less — against the wall where it wasn’t looking good and you had to figure it out and find a way," Venables said.
"It wasn’t just the last month. It’s certainly a tremendous magnitude and must-win. That started with Michigan and so our team has taken on that personality of back against the wall and a deck that might be stacked against us and not a lot of people believed early."
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
OU vs. Alabama
KICKOFF: 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19 at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman (ABC/ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football enters College Football Playoff with chip on shoulder
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