Watch Sooners coach Brent Venables meet the press after OU's arrival in San Antonio for Thursday's Alamo Bowl.
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00:00 Yeah, just a little over an hour.
00:02 Okay, awesome.
00:03 Yeah.
00:04 Alright, coach, welcome to Santana.
00:05 Well, coach, flight now.
00:06 How's everything so far on this trip?
00:11 Yeah, we had a Tuesday practice game week this morning.
00:15 Our players were able to get a few days off, went home for four days, and anxious to get
00:20 back and ready to work.
00:22 We got a great opportunity this week, trying to put in the work that it requires to have
00:29 a chance to win against a really good quality opponent and team in Arizona, one of the hottest
00:36 teams in college football, won their last six games of the season, four against ranked
00:41 opponents, and playing really, really well as a football team.
00:45 So we're going to need to put our best foot forward, have great focus and great practice,
00:49 great work while we're down here.
00:52 Certainly you want to have balance, and the greatest reward we can have is playing well
00:57 on the 28th, and that's where our guys are focused right now.
01:02 How do you get these guys, obviously it's a business trip, but it's also, hey, take
01:07 in some of the stuff, some of the extra activities that we're going to do with Bowl Week, and
01:12 enjoy those, but also what do you have to tell these guys in order to be able to get
01:16 it?
01:17 Well, you can't practice 24 hours a day, and you've got to get some rest, and we've got
01:23 meeting time, we've got practice time, and then there are some opportunities to check
01:27 out San Antonio and some of the cool things that our players are able to do.
01:32 So that's a good thing, having proper balance, but again, we're here to compete for the Animal
01:41 Bowl Championship, and I think that's where our players' focus is, I think that's where
01:45 their mind is, we've got great leadership.
01:47 We've got a team that's heavily invested in the season, and we lost a few guys, but our
01:53 focus is on the guys that are still in that locker room, and that have come down here
01:58 to give us a chance to win against Arizona.
02:03 And again, I think there's been 27 11-plus win seasons in Oklahoma history, and I think
02:12 that's the most in college football history.
02:14 So that's the expectation when you're at a place like Oklahoma, and it's going to take
02:19 a lot of good things going the right way for the Sooners to have a chance at that on the
02:24 28th.
02:25 I realize that it was like, this is not the big playoff game, but how important is it
02:30 to win any bowl game that you win?
02:33 Yeah, anytime you play, that's what you play for as a competitor, as a coach, as a competitor.
02:38 You get in the arena, you play to win.
02:41 You love to compete, and there's a result.
02:44 At the end of this game, there's going to be a stage, and there's going to be a trophy
02:47 handed out, and that means a lot to all of us.
02:51 As keepers of the jersey, we're on the shoulders of many great players and coaches that have
02:58 come before us, and that's a responsibility that you take when you come to a place like
03:02 Oklahoma.
03:03 The flip side of that is you're going to get everybody's best shot, and I know Arizona
03:08 will be incredibly excited to play.
03:11 This is the first bowl game for, I think, all but eight of their players on their roster.
03:17 They'll be incredibly excited, and motivated, and driven, but my expectation is so will
03:22 we.
03:23 Is there anything to wanting to get a win to build some momentum going into the SEC?
03:29 Is that part of that?
03:30 Is that a possible thing?
03:32 I would guess that that's a real thing.
03:34 We lost in the last drive of the game against Florida State in our bowl game last year,
03:40 finished 6-7, and won 10 games this year.
03:46 When it's all said and done, whether we win or not, our focus is going to be on what's
03:50 next in Team 130.
03:52 It'll be a completely different locker room, and it'll be a season of its own.
04:00 That's how we'll attack that when that day comes.
04:02 Everything has its time, though.
04:03 Thank you, Coach.
04:04 All right.