The start of the college football season is more than six months away. The 2022 recruiting cycle is mostly done. Football programs are in their winter workout sessions.
We’re a long way from September.
Thankfully, Oklahoma Sooners fans have a lot to look forward to this spring. Softball is off to a strong start in their bid to defend as national champions. Women’s gymnastics is one of the best in the nation. Despite a recent downturn, women’s basketball has had a fantastic 2021-2022 season.
Even with all of the promising athletics at Oklahoma, it’s never too soon to get in on “way-too-early” season. We’ve had Big 12 predictions, quarterback rankings, and now Action Network’s Brett McMurphy provides a guess at what next year’s bowl season could look like, and the Sooners matchup is incredibly spicy.
The Oklahoma Sooners to return to the Alamo Bowl again in 2022. Instead of facing the Oregon Ducks, the Sooners will face former head coach Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans. If McMurphy’s projection holds, the Sooners would get an opportunity to meet their former quarterback, Caleb Williams, as well as Mario Williams and Latrell McCutchin.
In McMurphy’s projections, the Oklahoma Sooners would be a six-point favorite over the USC Trojans.
For this to happen, both teams would have to be one of the best in their conference but not win the conference. Despite the turnover, it would be a disappointment if the Sooners couldn’t return to their Big 12 championship-winning ways.
It’s quite the assumption that the Trojans would be able to turn their 4-8 2021 season into a Pac-12 championship-contending season. On the other hand, Baylor went from 2-8 to Big 12 champion in one year.
Because of everything that’s transpired over the last couple of months, OU and USC will be joined at the hip for much of the foreseeable future. Every year, comparisons will be made. While the Sooners will have a more challenging path to a conference title and college football playoff berth, countless sports talk shows will compare the two teams’ seasons, recruiting classes, and futures.
It’s inevitable.
Of course, it’s the matchup that much of the college football world would want to see. It would be one of the more highly anticipated games of the bowl season that wasn’t a part of the playoff. Facing their former head coach in the Alamo Bowl would be a nice consolation prize.
At least for Sooners fans.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=none image=https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.
[listicle id=48378]