For the last time, the Oklahoma Sooners will make a run at the Big 12 title in 2023. With the move to the SEC on the horizon, this year provides the Sooners one last opportunity to assert their dominance over a conference that has given them a lot of hardware in the last 27 years.
And on the surface, the schedule makers might have given them the path to making that happen. There are some challenging games, such as Texas, but the rest of the schedule might just work in Oklahoma’s favor.
College Football News took the liberty to score each schedule in the Big 12 based on the 1-131 rankings for the 2023 season to establish its strength of schedule rankings for the conference. College Football News’ scoring puts the Sooners’ strength of schedule ninth. TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, UCF and Cincinnati come in lower than the Sooners. Iowa State is considered to have the toughest schedule in the conference in 2023.
Here’s what College Football News had to say.
It’s not a tough schedule if Oklahoma is back to being Oklahoma. Sort of like Houston going to Rice, yeah, going to Oklahoma State is a road game, but it’s not a taxing trip. – College Football News
With all due respect to the writer, going to Stillwater isn’t at all like going to Rice. The Cowboys may be down this year after the transfer portal exodus they sustained, but it’ll still be a challenging road trip.
The difficulty in Oklahoma’s schedule comes from playing road games at Cincinnati, BYU, Kansas and Oklahoma State. The Sooners will host TCU and Iowa State, but they avoid Kansas State, Texas Tech and Baylor.
Those are four places that will be energized to host the Sooners. For the Bearcats and the Cougars, it may be the only time they get Oklahoma in their barn. Kansas may not be a Big 12 title contender, but one last time to host their Big 8 compatriot should provide an exciting atmosphere in Lawrence. For Oklahoma State, it’ll be the last Bedlam for the foreseeable future. Those fan bases will be on fire to make life difficult for the Sooners.
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