Brent Venables: "That's the exact opposite of what we want from our guys."

The nature of team sports is that groups of players (called "teams") periodically gather to face a similarly-comprised group in competition. (Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Next we'll explain how one plus one equals two.)

But the wider focus on games obscures a harsher truth: in team sports, the typical athlete's will spend more time, and compete more fiercely, with his own teammates for depth chart positioning than he or she will spend competing against the other team. In fact, if a player does not win the first competition, the second will not even happen.

That's especially true in college football, where from the end of one season to the beginning of the next, teams will hold roughly 44 practices to prepare for approximately 13 games. And that doesn't count the weeks of winter and summer conditioning, summer on-field work, et cetera. 

In this sport, the practice-to-game ratio is roughly 4-to-1, which makes practice the ultimate crucible of competition for most players. To earn the right to take on the Tennessee Volunteers, the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide, an Oklahoma Sooner must first defeat several Oklahoma Sooners at his same position. 

"I like guys wanting to compete," Brent Venables said over the weekend. "I don't want guys satisfied being behind another guy. That's the wrong mindset, the wrong attitude, the exact opposite of what we want from our guys. I want ambitious, driven, 'I want to run out there first' (players). That should mean something to those guys, and it does."

The Oklahoma head coach was talking about the safety position, where the Sooners have the opportunity to be among the best in the country, at least at the top level. The unit is led by junior strong safety Billy Bowman, a preseason First Team All-SEC selection. Behind him is sophomore Peyton Bowen, whom Bowman said has more elite ability than he does. You may have seen this interception he snared on Saturday, one of the highlights of fall camp thus far. 

At free safety, junior Robert Spears-Jennings slides up after last year's starter graduated. 

Behind them, the Sooners signed four safeties in their 28-man recruiting class. Those four teammates are now each other's chief competitors over these next three weeks as depth charts slide into place across the country.

Encouraging -- nay, demanding -- those teammates jockey for position in drills, then unite behind a common goal when one player inevitably steps between the white lines over another is one of the trickiest and most enduring challenges in coaching. The end result -- whether good or bad -- is called culture. 

The mix of this particularly volatile cocktail of competitiveness is especially crucial in this day-and-age of college football, where players are free to leave after each season. 

So far, so good on that front, Venables reported. 

"But at the same time, they've got great respect and love and appreciation for one another, and for me that's where the real growth happens. Where they're not looking over their shoulder, they're confident in themselves," he said. "That's all led by Billy; Billy's done a great job with those guys."

Rinse and repeat across every team at every level in football, playing out daily across this crucial month. In many cases, seasons will be determined by the outcome of the competitions before the real competitions.