“It’s not spicy for me,” Venables told me Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “…Spicy may be for the media (and) the fans, but it’s not from a staff perspective. »

Don’t twist it. OU owns the all-time series because the Sooners are, in the strictest terms, a college football blue blood, while Missouri most certainly is not. The Tigers have exactly zero national championships and zero Heisman Trophy winners. They have 15 conference titles – but none since 1970.

But there is a rivalry of sorts — one that dates back to 2006, long before the Tigers began showing interest in other conferences, and that continues to this day.

That’s when the 5-star wide receiver Jeremy Maclin committed to OU, then returned to Mizzou.

Another 5-star Missouri receiver Luther’s Burdenfirst committed to OU, but then switched to Mizzou when Lincoln Riley LEFT.

It almost happened again last summer when it seemed certain that 5-star defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri would be a sooner but chose the Tigers instead.

Two current Missouri players – wide receiver Theo Wease and offensive lineman Cayden Green – began their career at Crimson and Cream but defected to Columbia to don the Black and Gold.

And one sooner, on a large scale JJ Hesterbegan his career at Mizzou before entering the transfer portal to Norman.

When the teams meeting Saturday evening At Faurot Field, there will be a few words exchanged on the field throughout the game.

There is nothing particularly improper about reversals or transfers. Hester is from Tulsa. Maclin and Burden are from St. Louis, and Nwaneri and Green are from the Kansas City area (Wease is from Allen, Texas).

“This is a program,” Venables said, “that’s going to recruit well, in their own backyard.”

But recent events have added to the flavor of any OU-Mizzou drama. For example, when Missouri lawmakers passed legislation in 2023 allowing the state’s athletes to sign NIL agreements before even attending college if they signed with an in-state public school, this is became a motivation for Nwaneri and his family.

And there have been, of course, accusations that Missouri tampered with Green while he was still at OU — accusations that remain unconfirmed by either party. Green’s departure was particularly salty for the Sooners because he reportedly agreed to a new NIL deal to stay in Norman, but then literally left the facility during practice without telling anyone he was leaving.

“Recruiting is incredibly competitive,” Venables said. “Winning is incredibly difficult, and for both programs…there’s definitely some familiarity.”

Coach Eli Drinkwitz was the SEC Coach of the Year last year as he led the Tigers to an 11-2 record in his fourth year. Mizzou was 5-5, 6-7 and 6-7 in his first three seasons as a replacement Barry Odom. So far this year, the Tigers are 6-2 and just fell out of the AP Top 25 a week after suffering a 34-0 blowout at Alabama.

“Coach Drinkwitz has done a great job building the program,” Venables said. “…And last year they were extinct. They were fantastic.

Here’s the crux of the matter: Missouri isn’t that different after more than a decade in the SEC than it is after a decade in the Big 12.

From 2006 to 2011, according to Rivals, Missouri teams’ recruiting rankings were 47th, 33rd, 25th, 40th, 21st and 48th.

From 2019 to 2024, the Missouri Rivals team’s recruiting rankings were 34th, 54th, 19th, 13th, 33rd, and 22nd.

In their last six SEC recruiting classes, the Tigers’ average recruiting ranking has fallen from 36th to 29th over their last six years in the Big 12.

During this same six-year period, Gary Pinkel signed two 5-stars and 16 4-stars, while Odom and Drinkwitz signed two 5-stars and 22 4-stars.

Missouri is 40-29 since the start of the 2019 season. In their last six seasons in the Big 12, they were 56-24. It’s worth noting that at the time the Big 12 was a formidable conference, while the SEC was just beginning its rise to the top of college football. Pinkel’s Tigers, remember, were ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings when they lost in the 2007 Big 12 championship game.

Pinklel’s team played for two Big 12 championships in 2006 and 2007 (they lost to OU twice) and two SEC championships in 2013 and 2014 (they lost both times to Alabama and Auburn).

As for the players, Venables says he has no animosity toward any of the former Sooners now in Columbia.

Wease, a former 5-star, played in 36 games and caught 64 passes for 1,044 yards and 10 touchdowns during his OU career from 2019-2022. Last year at Missouri, he caught 49 passes for 682 yards and six touchdowns, and so far this year, his sixth in college football, he has 37 catches for 482 yards and a score. He was voted the team’s permanent captain by his teammates this season.

“As far as Theo, you know, our offensive team didn’t feel like he was – and Theo probably felt the same way – he wasn’t a major part of what we were doing, and he was looking for an opportunity,” Venables said. “And he was just great. He was a very good leader. Did everything we asked of him. And what a great example of what opportunity and development looks like. And he kept his head down and just worked. I had a fantastic year last year, a great year this year.

Green, a former 4-star offensive lineman, played in 11 games and made five starts at left guard for OU last year and was named a Freshman All-American. He started all eight games for the Tigers this season. He was removed from the game against Alabama, but Drinkwitz said Tuesday that it was injury-related and he was gearing toward returning this week.

“I think Cayden has come in there and been a starter, been a starter for us, and we’re not surprised it’s had such fantastic success,” Venables said. “He was a freshman All-American. This is the world we live in today, where players are free to come and go as they please. What is best for them. There’s no time for bitterness and things like that. You must move forward, adapt and improve.

Burden, meanwhile, has become one of the most explosive and reliable players in the country, with 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns last year and 37 for 447 and four scores so far this year. As a true freshman in 2022, he had 45 catches for 375 yards and six touchdowns.

Nwaneri played in three games for the Tigers and had two total tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.

Venables said he admired how competitive Missouri had been in close games under Drinkwitz.

But are they significantly different as a member of the SEC than they were in the Big 12?

If so, it’s certainly difficult to quantify. But Venables thinks that’s probably the case.

“I guess — and I don’t know everything, the ups and downs — but what I would say is in the SEC you’re forced to look at things from a different perspective,” Venables said. “And the challenges of what you see week in and week out, how deep they are, how you recruit, how you develop, how you plan, all of those things are affected to some extent. It forces you to grow in different ways.

“And while it can be painful at times — I don’t want to speak for everyone — it can be a real healthy change and an opportunity to grow differently.”