CHEEZ-IT BOWL: OKLAHOMA VS FLORIDA STATE

December 27, 2022

Brent Venables

Camping World Stadium

Press Conference

Q. Coach, kind of talk about how it felt to interact with the kids today and how it has been seeing the players interact with them as well.

BRENT VENABLES: It is a great day. It is a great change-up from the practice field and the meeting room to be able to enjoy some time with the players. One, with each other, but most importantly today is about mentoring and giving back at this time of the year. It is a perfect time to keep the main thing, the main thing, for our players and have a great perspective, but have some fun too as much as anything.

Q. How has it been in Orlando for you?

BRENT VENABLES: This is a fantastic venue for college football. This will be one of the most watched non New Year's Day games. It is a fabulous matchup. Oklahoma is going to be matched up against a fantastic Florida State team. Maybe one of the hottest teams in all of college football to finish the season and arguably one of the best in the ACC.

Coach [Mike] Norvell, their staff, and their players have had a fabulous year. It is going to be a tremendous opportunity for us -- two storied and tradition-rich programs to be able to match up here on December 29th. It is going to be a lot of fun.

Q. What kind of level of focus have the senior guys get into for Thursday?

BRENT VENABLES: They are hungry. They are motivated. They have a lot to prove. This is, again, a great opportunity. They recognize the opponent, the quality of the opponent, the stage that we are going to play on, and an opportunity to finish.

We have a lot of seniors and guys that are going to the NFL. It is a great opportunity for our guys to finish and in the right way and to leave their mark.

Q. The players on both teams have spent a little time together?

BRENT VENABLES: Yeah, I think it gives perspective. Put your competitive juices to the side and have an opportunity to get to know people. As we said, you never know how the world works from relationships and down the road, whether it is in coaching or business. It is always good to be able to network and know the face behind the helmet, if you will. I think it is the appropriate and the right thing to do for us.