Heading into the 2021 season, the Oklahoma Sooners were expected to return to the College Football Playoff led by the arm of their Heisman contending quarterback. Very little went according to plan last year, and now, the Sooners find themselves facing transition on both sides of the ball.
But that hasn’t dampened any of the optimism from fans and analysts alike who have high expectations for the Sooners in 2022.
247Sports is expecting a bounce-back season for the Sooners. On Monday, they shared their predictions for the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six Games.
Let’s take a look!
It's never too early for College Football bowl projections đź‘€
Our way-too-early picks for next season, spring practice edition. Do y'all agree? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/A9kCWpEay2
— 247Sports (@247Sports) April 4, 2022
There’s a lot to unpack here:
As the only Big 12 team on the list, it shows how 247Sports feels about the Venables hire. If OU doesn’t make the playoff, there’s a loss or two on their schedule, which puts them out of the top four.
Seeing Venables take OU to the playoff in his first year would be amazing, but even with a weaker schedule in the Big 12, I don’t think that’s a reasonable ask from OU fans.
A matchup with Texas A&M would provide a glimpse of a future SEC West that could include the two former Big 12 conference-mates.
USC in the Rose Bowl in [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag]’s first year is undoubtedly a bold prediction. With no one else from the PAC 12 on this list, 247Sports is predicting USC to win the PAC 12. I think Utah is at least a step ahead of USC, but we’ll see what happens.
The big one that sticks out on the list is Notre Dame. We all know that the CFP committee loves Notre Dame, but their schedule is more challenging this year.
They open against Ohio State and play both Clemson and USC in November. USC is a road game and is their final game of the year, which will do big numbers in the ratings.
The top four are more or less what actually will be.
Alabama and Georgia are still Alabama and Georgia. They’re not going anywhere. C.J. Stroud will probably win the [autotag]Heisman[/autotag], and Ohio State is still the best program in the second-best conference in football. Barring injury, they’ll be back. Notre Dame is the only one I could see realistically missing out on the College Football Playoff.
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