The ongoing debate around Norman, Oklahoma, revolves around the Sooners’ chances in the College Football Playoffs. Can they return after a one-year hiatus in 2020? Can they finally get over the hump and win a College Football Playoffs semifinals game?
Those topics won’t go anywhere during the foreseeable future, or at least until December when the committee names the teams that will compete in the annual four-team tournament. Oklahoma has been to the playoffs on four different occassions with the same outcome, so is this year going to be any different?
Josh Pate of 247Sports recently discussed the Sooners contending hopes.
“This is the fewest amount of questions I’ve ever had about a Lincoln Riley team at Oklahoma,” Pate said. “I’m sky high on them. I think they’re a bona fide National Championship contender. And if you push back on that and your main pushback is, ‘Well, everyone knows they’re going to get steamrolled once they face an elite SEC team in the playoff; Everyone knows that their defense can’t stop anyone,’ I’m telling you if you took this defensive personnel Oklahoma has this year and you threw Florida jerseys on them or Georgia jerseys on them, you would crown them National Championship contenders.”
This is the same Oklahoma Sooners football team of years past. While the quarterback situation is stable for the first time since Baker Mayfield, in terms of having a multi-year starter. The defense is much improved than year’s past with some question marks on the back end of Alex Grinch’s defense. Plus the team added plenty of starting caliber players through the the transfer portal and the Big 12’s best recruiting class.
Oklahoma will be one team to watch as they are expected to start as a top five team when the polls are released closer to the season.
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