Oklahoma looks to parlay momentum into bowl eligibility against Missou

Oklahoma lost its wide receiver Jalil Farooq during the first stage of the 2024 season.

He re-aggravated his foot injury on a 47-yard catch against Temple and has been out of the lineup all year.

The recovery timeline for Farooq has him nearing a return, although Venables did not confirm whether this would be the week the veteran returns to the field.

“He is a great competitor, cares about this program and his teammates,” Venables said. “He feels like his mission, his journey is not over here in Oklahoma. He wants to have a legacy here. I think that’s important for Jalil.”

There are only three games left to play in the regular season.

Farooq could return against Missouri, face Alabama and LSU and still retain his redshirt this year.

During his recovery process, Venables has emphasized that Farooq has not shut down business this year. He is working with the training staff to get free and help the team get to the final stretch in 2024.

“He likes to compete when you watch him play,” Venables said. “If you never talked to him, but watched him play, you would say a lot of those things. A man who cares deeply, plays with great toughness and an edge.

“He is wide open and can do a lot as a receiver. Both explosive and vertical. … I know he worked hard. I know he has high expectations to contribute quickly. He was with us last night in some capacity. But the availability report starts tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

The Sooners are also patiently waiting for the return of Deion Burkswho hasn’t seen action since OU’s Week 4 loss to Tennessee.

Saturday’s 59-14 win over Maine served multiple purposes.

First, it helped the team build confidence by ending a three-game losing streak. But it also allowed the Sooners to bring in a bunch of underclassmen to further push the development process.

Two of those pieces on offense, freshman offensive lineman Eddy Pierre-Louis and freshman running back Xavier Robinsonmade the most of their time in the second half.

And while the returns have been promising, Venables said the coaching staff has made a decision on how these two will be used for the rest of the year.

“We’re going to play those guys in four games,” he said. “So four total and not burning their red shirt year. So we are in a position to do that.”

Pierre-Louis has already played in two games this season and Robinson has played in three games in 2024.

Every coaching staff in the country emphasizes the importance of making a bowl game.

Earning three extra weeks of practice leading up to the exhibition game is key to getting young guys on board — something Oklahoma’s offense could use if the Sooners can steal one of the remaining three games.

But bowl eligibility is not the intention at the moment for Venables, although it would be a nice bonus to achieve the main target this week.

“I’m focusing on finishing 1-0 this week and finishing much better than where we started this season,” Venables said. “That was the focus. It’s been in the works. It was in the plans. It’s in the transition and the personnel.

“The question was where is Oklahoma beating Oklahoma and what can we do to rely on the strengths of this football team and protect the weaknesses of this football team while improving the football team?”

OU currently boasts the second-longest bowl streak in the country.

The Sooners have qualified for a bowl every year since 1999, trailing only Georgia’s streak that began in 1997.

“It’s always important that we win and we put everything we have into winning,” Venables said. “…I don’t spend time on anything other than what’s in front of us now because I have no control over the other things. But it’s important that we win the next one.”