SEC Day: SEC Commentator Dusty Dvoracek Says 'Rabid' OU Fans Are SEC-Ready

It just means more in the SEC, and the Sooners will fit right in with the existing culture.

ESPN radio analyst Dusty Dvoracek / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

NORMAN — SEC Network pundits Dusty Dvoracek and Dari Nowkah — both University of Oklahoma alumni — believe the Sooners athletic department is ready to make the leap into the Southeastern Conference.

“I think they [OU fans] fit in perfectly,” Nowkah said, alluding to the conference’s signature catchline. “The fan bases in this league, you know the whole 'It just means more' thing? It has to do with every win means a little more to the fan, to the household, to the conversations, to the work conversations, to how much they sleep at night. Every loss pains them a little bit more than it does most teams around the country. ... I think OU and Texas both, the fan bases are exactly the same, right?”

Dvoracek and Nowkah were made available to comment about the university’s move into the SEC at OU’s SEC Day celebration at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Monday. Both offered comments supporting OU football’s SEC-readiness and other aspects regarding the Sooners’ role in the now 16-team league’s future.

“We know how much Sooner sports means to Sooner fans, which is the vast majority of this state and much of other states, and losses hurt and wins mean something,” Nowkah said. 

“I think that that’s one of the things I love most about this move is for the fans, because I think that like-minded thinking [is] very similar when I go across the country and I do games in SEC country, it’s just like Norman, Oklahoma,” Dvoracek said. “These fans live and die with every game, every recruit, and they’re fans because they’re rabid, and they’re fanatical, and they’re what makes college football great.”

Monday, July 1, marked the university and its athletic teams’ departure from the Big 12 and full integration into the SEC. Not only will Oklahoma’s football program take its seat at the SEC table, but its four-time defending national champion softball program, perennial contending women’s gymnastics program and most other campus NCAA-sanctioned teams will be joining the nation’s most celebrated conference.

“With baseball, you look at what Skip [Johnson] has done here has been fantastic,” Nowkah said. “Here’s my thing, when I look at baseball, is they’re going to go to those venues — baseball and softball in the SEC are just massively important — and so they’re going to go to these venues and they’re going to see 16,000 in Starkville and 10,000 in Fayetteville and Oxford and sellouts in South Carolina and [Texas] A&M and all of these places.

“And my hope is that they come back home and see packed houses, not as big a stadium, I get it with L. Dale [Mitchell], but packed houses, rabid fans and they get to enjoy a home atmosphere like they’re going to see on the road,” Nowkah said. “I think gymnastics and softball are going to be ready to rock and roll. I think women’s basketball is really good, and what Jennie [Baranczyk] has done here because, you know, outside of LSU and South Carolina, there are programs that are on the rise, but I think Oklahoma slides in there in that tier two, and I think that’ll be fun to see how they fare as well.”

Dvoracek held that, in his estimation, SEC fans might see OU as Texas’s second fiddle in the transition, but that the Sooners are just as prepared to contribute to the conference culture.

“I think that SEC fans are excited for Oklahoma. I do kind of wonder if they know exactly what they’re getting. I think it seems sometimes like Texas is the prize and Oklahoma was just kind of somewhat of a throw-in. I don’t know if they fully appreciate or understand the tradition of this place,” Dvoracek said. “Not just, you know, the 50s, the 70s, but recent tradition. The Big 12, 20 years, 14 Big 12 championships. As great as Texas is, and they’re the toast of the town right now, Oklahoma’s beat them seven out of 10, 11 out of 15.

“Everyone always asks the question ‘Is Oklahoma ready for the SEC?’ And we’re going to find out, but I do think. ... Does the SEC really know exactly what they’re getting?”