Will Oklahoma even get to a bowl game under Brent Venables?

Brent Venables and his Oklahoma Sooners are up against it at a disastrous 3-3 on the season.

At roughly the halfway point, the Oklahoma Sooners are a terrible 3-3 (0-3) on the season under first-year head coach Brent Venables.

While some regression to the mean was expected in Norman, who saw the Sooners dropping their first three conference games under their new head coach? It is incredibly rare for OU to drop two games during the regular season, let alone their first three games of conference play. After losing at home to Kansas State, they were blown out at TCU and then where shut out by Texas Saturday.

It seems almost unfathomable to even be having this conversation, but will OU even go bowling?

Oklahoma football remaining schedule: Can Sooners even get to a bowl game?

Here is what the Sooners have left on the regular-season slate. Are there three wins to be had?

• Week 7: vs. Kansas Jayhawks (Oct. 15)
• Week 8: Bye (Oct. 22)
• Week 9: at Iowa State Cyclones (Oct. 29)
• Week 10: vs. Baylor Bears (Nov. 5)
• Week 11: at West Virginia Mountaineers (Nov. 12)
• Week 12: vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (Nov. 19)
• Week 13: at Texas Tech Red Raiders (Nov. 26)

Overall, Oklahoma is guaranteed to play at least one more ranked team (Kansas), almost certainly two (Oklahoma State) and quite possibly three or more (Baylor, Texas Tech, etc.). As weird as it sounds, their easiest remaining home game is probably reigning Big 12 champion Baylor. While they have winnable ones on the road, Ames, Morgantown and Lubbock are not easy places to play.

For the Sooners to keep their bowl streak alive, they have to go 3-3 over the next seven weeks. While we understand it is a rivalry game, it is going to be mind-blowing if OU wins in Bedlam over the Pokes. That feels like a certain loss at this point, but you never know with that game. Kansas may fade down the stretch, but the Jayhawks are 5-1 and will want to avenge that tough TCU loss.

In theory, the Sooners’ easiest three remaining games are all on the road. West Virginia may move off head coach Neal Brown at the end of the season, so that’s the most winnable game OU has left. Iowa State is struggling to score points this season under Matt Campbell, and he might be leaving for a better job, so that is another. Being 5-6 at Texas Tech is living dangerously, folks…

For Oklahoma to go bowling, they need to beat either Kansas or Baylor at home, as well as take two of three on the road at Iowa State, at West Virginia and at Texas Tech. Not to say Oklahoma is going 0-for Big 12 play this year, but that feels way more likely than them being a 7-5 team or better. The new goal is to get to bowl eligibility at 6-6. Even that feels a bit too optimistic for OU.

Venables will get another year on the job, but he will be on the hot seat of OU goes 5-7 or worse.

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