The Oklahoma Sooners know that it’s hard to win a conference championship. It’s just not something that can be counted on with regularity each year. Yet, if any team in the country is in great shape to win its conference, Oklahoma might be the team with the best setup in college football, and certainly a team with good odds of making the College Football Playoff. Here’s more on the Sooners and what their prospects look like for this coming season.
Biggest Team Weakness
The Oklahoma Sooners lost a number of high-quality players throughout their defense to the NFL. Zack Sanchez was a tremendous playmaker in the secondary. Charles Tapper, Eric Striker, and Dominique Alexander also covered a lot of ground and occupied opponents to the extent that other teammates were in position to make important plays. It’s one thing to lose one or two anchor-level players, but the Sooners lose four. It should be known that as far as the 2016 roster is concerned, linebacker Jordan Evans – seen as a vital connective presence in the larger framework of the defense – has been brittle in recent years. If he’s not healthy, this defense could be in deep trouble. More will be said on the makeup of Oklahoma’s schedule a little later, as it relates to the health of the defense.
Biggest Team Strength
If the Oklahoma Sooners are vulnerable on defense, it’s going to be extremely powerful on offense. A top-of-the-line running back, Samaje Perine? He’s back. A player who finished in the top five of the Heisman Trophy balloting, Baker Mayfield? He’s back. Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, who enabled this offense to come together and who represented a huge improvement over previous offensive coordinator Josh Heupel? He’s back. The offensive line is solid. The only small question is at wide receiver, where Sterling Shepard is off to the NFL, but Oklahoma has Dede Westbrook as the next big-time receiver in line to catch passes. Oklahoma should put up big numbers with this offense. The best players are the leaders of the offense, and they’re very familiar with the system.
Schedule
The fact that Big 12 teams play each other – no exceptions – means that the only important note is where games are played. Oklahoma hosts Baylor and Oklahoma State, while visiting West Virginia and TCU. Getting Baylor at home is probably the biggest single detail in the Big 12 part of the schedule for OU. Out of conference, Oklahoma is challenging itself more than any other team in the country. Oklahoma plays Houston on the road on September 3, and it hosts Ohio State on Sept. 17. If Oklahoma goes 11-1 and splits those two games against Houston and Ohio State, it will have a very good chance of making the College Football Playoff.
Overall, this is one of the easier hard schedules that a team might go through, even though that sounds like an oxymoron. Yes, they play No. 15 Houston to start the year but that game is at a neutral site and it’s not a true road game. Then they do have to play No. 6 Ohio State two weeks later but they get to host that matchup, which is crucial. The Sooners are much stronger in Norman than they are on the road. The Sooners will also play Texas at a neutral site and they’ll host No. 23 Baylor and No. 21 Oklahoma State. That leaves No. 13 TCU as their toughest road game, which is quite manageable. That’s one of the main reasons why Oklahoma should finish atop the Big 12; this is a friendly schedule.
Outlook
The Oklahoma Sooners might get injured later in the season, but with Houston and Ohio State early on the schedule, Oklahoma should be able to dodge the injury bug against those tough teams. That should enable OU to win at least one of those two games. If the Sooners then go unbeaten in the Big 12, they’ll be playoff bound. 11-1 feels right for this team. The fact that their road schedule isn’t overly arduous suggests that they should finish the season as the top team in the conference and head back to the CFP.
Projection: 1st In Big 12
