Mind. That takes time. The offense was still very good even without a Heisman quarterback. Venables won natties with his great defense and Riley lost a bunch of games he scored over 40 points in. This year was a scratch because nobody had playing expierence, everybody was young and it's a new system.
Historically OU has done well against the SEC and has coaches that have recently had great success in or against the SEC and the recruiting is near the very top of the SEC.