Coming off of a 6-7 season in which the defense struggled for most of the Big 12 schedule, it’s a bit surprising that the Oklahoma Sooners find themselves inside the top 25 of these way too early 2023 power rankings.
Whether it was CBS Sports or 247Sports, it appears the Sooners will be a popular bounce-back candidate this offseason. To that end, Oklahoma was included in the top 25 of USA TODAY Sports’ way too early power rankings for 2023 by Paul Myerburg.
It has to get better. There’s plenty of talent on offense to team with established starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Based on his track record, it feels very safe to expect the defense to take a huge leap in Brent Venables’ second season. The Sooners will also be a deeper and more experienced team after almost completely redoing the roster last winter and making significant headway in the transfer portal this offseason. Don’t forget that five of OU’s seven losses came by a touchdown or less, so simply returning to the mean in these close games would bring OU back into the eight-or-nine win range. – Myerburg, USA TODAY Sports
Myerburg makes a great point, that if Oklahoma split the five games in which they lost by a touchdown or less, the Sooners would have been at least an eight-win team. Four of those five losses came by a field goal. Improved depth on defense could help the Sooners better withstand late surges by their opponents. P
Getting [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] back is a great start to rebounding after the Sooners’ first losing season since 1998. Having quarterback continuity amid some key losses on the offensive side of the ball will help calm the waters. But more important than that is the work Brent Venables and his staff have done to add immediate difference-makers to the defense in the [autotag]2022-2023 transfer portal[/autotag].
Guys like [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]Trace Ford[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Pearson[/autotag], and [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag] are ready-made players that will step in and either start or be a part of the two-deep on the Sooners’ initial depth chart when they break camp next fall. Bothroyd, Ford, and McCullough, in particular, bring pass rush productivity to Norman to help a defensive front that struggled with pass rush consistency in 2022. Add that group to Reggie Grimes, who started 2022 hot and Ethan Downs, who finished strong down the stretch, and the Sooners are building quite the arsenal at defensive end.
Improving the defense is the key to the Sooners returning to contention in the Big 12 in 2023. Moving the needle from 30 points per game to closer to 20 will make the biggest difference for the Sooners. It’s too early to tell how all the pieces will come together, but based on what they’ve done in the transfer portal thus far, the Oklahoma Sooners are trending in the right direction.
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