#4: oklahoma sooners

Context

Just like fellow top fivers Ohio State and Southern California, Oklahoma is the clear class of their conference and doesn't appear to be relinquishing that title anytime in the near future. With 5 Big XII championships in the last 8 years and another one of those years without a conference title but playing for the BCS championship, there's not much up for debate.

To me, the best evidence of this consistent play was Oklahoma's 2006 squad. Coming off an average 8-4 season and rival Texas running the table to a national title and appearing to maybe challenge the Sooners' supremacy, the Okies lost their starting quarterback for the year and converted wide receiver Paul Thompson stepped in and led Oklahoma to a Big XII title and an 11 win (probably should have been 12) season as they steamrolled through the conference.

They're no stranger to BCS bowl games as in 2006 their senior class had been to an every single BCS bowl game site, an amazing accomplishment. Unfortunately for the Sooners, they have dropped 4 straight of those BCS contests and have simply been dominated in a few of those games.

Nothing much is new this year, and the Sooners should be ripe for another BCS title hunt with a favorable schedule and a lot of talented players returning.

Experts

The NCS poll agrees with me, as Oklahoma is ranked #4 overall and has an average ranking of exactly (4.00). E!SPN's Mark Schlabach has them ranked #2 for a high, and David Fox of Rivals has them the lowest of the group at #8.

My Opinion

Oklahoma's offense wasn't exactly poor in 2005 and 2006, but they weren't near elite groups and last year was a pleasant surprise for Sooner fans as two freshman stepped in and upped the scoring average to over 40 points per game.

The only thing bad about Sam Bradford's first year of starting at QB for the Sooners is that the numbers he put up will be almost impossible to duplicate. He completed 70% of his passes and threw for one of the nation's best ratio's with 36 touchdown passes and only 8 interceptions. He'll be hard pressed to match those numbers this fall, but that doesn't mean he can't improve.

Bradford was a mortal 58% passer with 4 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on the road, and that was mostly against poor competition in Tulsa and Iowa State (by far his worst game of the season) and unfortunately he was injured against Texas Tech. It doesn't look like they'll face a top 25 team on the road this year, but games at Kansas State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State all scream potential upset and shouldn't be taken for granted.

The other freshman that immediately made his presence felt was DeMarco Murray, who had 15 touchdowns on the year (2 on kick returns) and is probably one of the more dynamic runners in the country. This was all without playing in the last 3 contests.

He and a very solid Chris Brown should have no problem replacing leading rusher Allen Patrick behind an offensive line that returns all five behemoth starters - the same group that only allowed 13 sacks last year guarding a pocket passer without much mobility.

Malcolm Kelly is probably the name most fans are familiar with from the wide receiver position, but Joaquin Iglesias was actually the leading receiver with 907 yards and 5 touchdowns. He, like Murray, contributed solidly in the kick returning game almost matched his pass catching yardage mark with 826 on an average of 28.5 yards per return.

He and Jermaine Greshman, a freak athlete at tight end who caught 11 touchdowns last year, will lead the receiving corps which remains pretty much intact with the exception of Kelly departing. Manuel Johnson is a senior who will probably start opposite Iglesias and he is a small guy at just below 6 feet tall, but he's had two straight years of pretty consistent production and should have a nice year.

The Big XII is no question the top offensive BCS conference in the country in my mind, and the Sooners need to at least be as solid as they were last year, and I expect them to do so with one of the best lines in the country and two important skill players a year more savvy. The edge Oklahoma has over most other teams in the conference is they are extremely balanced and can rely on the run game more than teams like Missouri, Texas Tech, or Kansas.

Being in that offense-heavy league, especially through the air, the Sooner defense looks to have a challenge on their hands with retooled secondary and linebacker units.

Maybe the Sooners haven't recently matched the dominating units now Arizona head coach Mike Stoops helped form in the early part of this decade, but the Sooners have still proven to be awfully consistent under the tutelage of co-defensive coordinators Brent Venables and Bobby Jack Wright.

Oklahoma had 3 secondary mates that had been around a long time last year in Marcus Walker, Reggie Smith, and DJ Wolfe but they didn't have the best year and allowed almost 230 passing yards a game and let opponents complete 60% of their passes. Missouri, Texas, Texas Tech, and Tulsa all threw for over 300 yards on the Sooners. But the run defense was again a force and outside of the debacle in the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia, performed very well. They have two really talented tackles - DeMarcus Granger and Gerald McCoy, who were only a sophomore and freshman respectively last year and should terrorize the Big XII this year.

Alongside them on the defensive line is Auston English at end who had a big year and I think the Sooners will have one of the best defensive lines in the country this year. It's very significant that both of their lines are so good.

One downside to the Sooner D this year is that they lose Curtis Lofton, who was one of the best linebackers in the country last year and really a joy to watch. He had 156 tackles. There's not a lot of experience returning at linebacker outside of junior Ryan Reynolds, so this might be an area of concern. But I think that's more against the pass than defending the run, as the aforementioned potentially dominating defensive line should eat up blockers, allowing the new guys to get to ball carriers pretty easily.

The secondary, particularly the cornerbacks, is probably what I'm most worried about for the Sooners. There is barely any experience there. The good thing is Lendy Holmes has a lot of prior play at the corner position and could help, although he'll probably man a safety spot. Nic Harris will be the strong safety and it will be his third year starting there in a row.

I wouldn't be so concerned about the defense if they weren't playing in the Big XII, but 10 of the top 12 passers from last year return in the conference. It will again be a very good group, but they could get thrown on quite a bit, and the lack of pass rush outside of Auston English last year concerns me also.

New kickers are always a concern, and Oklahoma replaces their punter and kicker but they have one of the best return games in the country.

Prediction

I actually feel that Oklahoma has the easiest schedule of the top 4 teams in my rankings. They should be heavily favored in every game but the Red River Shooto..err, 'Rivalry' and possibly a home contest with Texas Tech. They miss Missouri from the North and also avoid a dangerous Colorado team that beat them last year. I'll call for another Big XII championship game appearance and could easily see them in the national title game.