It’s the time of the year when predictions are flying.
The Oklahoma Sooners find themselves in unfamiliar territory. They’re not a top 10 team in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. They’re not the favorite to win their conference. Most publications don’t even consider them a playoff team.
Given the schedule, those judgments are understandable. The Sooners play six teams ranked ahead of them in the US LBM Coaches Poll. They were picked to finish eighth in the SEC and most playoff projections have three to four SEC teams in the playoff.
But this is why they play the games. The Sooners have put together a team that’s going to be capable of competing with every team they play in 2024. Lest we forget, they beat everyone’s preseason darling, the Texas Longhorns last season.
ESPN’s [autotag]Paul Finebaum[/autotag] talked about teams that had a chance to make the playoff, but would need a big upset along the way to make it happen, and he mentioned the Oklahoma Sooners.
“One more school on the fringe of what I just got through saying (is) Oklahoma,” Finebaum said. “They’re an upset away probably from being in playoff contention.”
The Sooners will play Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU. Each of those teams is ranked higher than the Sooners. Will they be by the time they play OU? We’ll find out over the next four months.
Oklahoma has a chance to do some special things this season, but it’ll take getting some big wins to do so. It all starts in eight days when the Sooners take the field against the Temple Owls.
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