How Oklahoma is “working on Oklahoma” as it prepares for Texas during the bye week

The Oklahoma Sooners have no one to prepare for this week but themselves. But let's not kid ourselves that it's not necessarily two weeks to prepare for the Red River Showdown.

The Sooners are in the midst of their first of two open weeks of the season before playing No. 2 Texas in Dallas on Oct. 12 at 2:30 p.m. The Longhorns, who were also idle this week, are undefeated at 5-0, ranked as the best in the country a week ago and are getting healthier with hopes of getting their starting quarterback back. But heading into rivalry week, OU must first improve if it has any chance of toppling Texas.

“We need to get healthy,” OU defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. “We have to get our boys to regenerate and of course prepare them for a big game. No. 1 in the country and so on. Get them ready for Dallas next week.

“In the coming week, you just have to work well at Oklahoma and get better both defensively and offensively, on special teams and everything. We can improve in every area. I believe in that, especially on defense, and we’re just going to get some guys healthy and ready to play.”

After a thrilling road win against Auburn, OU is 4-1, according to the OU coach Brent Venables would look at the first part of the season while the year is split into bye weeks. Now in his third season, the Sooners have never lost a game after a bye week under Venables. Although OU narrowly beat UCF after the opening week last season, the Sooners dropped the next two games after that to Kansas and Oklahoma State.

“Last year we turned the ball over six times in two consecutive weeks during the off-bye week,” Venables said. “One was a pick-six in a game you lost by points. On the third play you throw a pick-six, it's hard to beat anyone. You have to do some work, you have to get better. You have to improve. You can't improve by doing walk-throughs for three or four days. And every team is different, and this is a team that's probably starting a little bit less, but we had to – we were in full padding (Wednesday) and did a lot of good against good, and that means – you want the Guys do it when you you get exposed, you want them exposed out here on the practice field. And we worked through a lot of situations, but (Thursday) we're going to – we're not going to be in full pads (Thursday), we weren't in full pads on Monday.”

However, preparing for Texas won't matter much if OU doesn't have the tools to repair itself. The Sooners were without 11 players in their last game against Auburn. That included four who will be out long-term or for the season and five of their top wide receivers. Kicker Tyler Keltner is expected to return after a week's absence. Venables also said top receiver Deion Burkes and rising freshman running back Taylor Tatum could also be back to play against Texas.

“I think it's very obvious that it's probably one of the most important weeks, especially leading up to the week we're having,” Linebacker said Danny Stutsman said. “I think guys just need to get healthy, take care of themselves and use this week as kind of a stepping stone.”

But rest doesn't mean resting during a week that you would consider off work. OU's offense was lackluster and one of the lowest explosive units in the country. Defense was the backbone of the 2024 Sooners, but even that group gave up a total of 482 yards in their last game against Auburn. Texas, meanwhile, is averaging 47.4 points and 513.4 yards per game while giving up just 7 points and 228.2 yards. The Sooners were given an extra week to try to narrow those margins.

“You have to treat it like a professional,” Stutsman said. “It's not really a time off, you have to be active in your recovery and filming and even through practice when you get the opportunity you have to make the most of it and just keep getting better.”