Tag: 2024 Oklahoma Sooners Football

Oklahoma expected to host Alabama in 2024 per ESPN report

With the 2024 SEC schedule set to be released, ESPN’s Chris Low is reporting the Oklahoma Sooners will host the Alabama Crimson Tide.

A new era of college football is set to be revealed during a special on the SEC Network Wednesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The show will air from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

We knew Texas will be on the schedule on an annual basis. However, a report from Chris Low of ESPN gives us the second opponent on the eight-game conference schedule for the Sooners.

According to Low’s report, the Sooners will play host to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2024 season.

All 14 existing SEC schools will play either Oklahoma or Texas in 2024, with sources telling ESPN that Georgia will visit Texas and Alabama will travel to face Oklahoma. – Low, ESPN

The SEC is expected to schedule each of their 14 members against Oklahoma or Texas during the 2024 season, which will create a great many interesting matchups throughout the schedule.

Alabama hasn’t made the trip to Norman since 2002, a 37-27 win for the Oklahoma Sooners. OU holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 3-2-1.

The Crimson Tide won the first matchup in the series, 17-0, in the Orange Bowl to end the 1962 season. Alabama’s win in the 2018 College Football Playoff was its first over the Sooners since that 1962 matchup.

Now with Oklahoma joining the SEC, the two teams will become much more familiar with each other, playing twice in a four-year span.

We’re still waiting to find out when the two sides will play during the season, but whichever Saturday the matchup falls, it will create an incredible buzz in Norman.

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Questions that need to be answered for OU football in 2024

There are three questions that could be the difference between OU having another disappointing season or getting back to the Big 12 championship.

We are still a few months from the start of the college football season. The Sooners went 6-7 last year and addressed a number of issues this offseason so far, but what questions still remain?

There are three questions that I believe could be the difference between OU having another disappointing season or getting back to the Big 12 championship.

There’s no secret last year, the Sooners didn’t have the players they needed to play the way Brent Venables wanted them to play. They also didn’t have the all-time great quarterback to save them as they had in the Lincoln Riley era.

The defensive line, wide receiver room and Venables’ game management are three areas in which the Sooners still have unanswered questions.

We will not know an answer to those questions until probably the Texas game.

The defensive line is still a question mark, especially inside. The staff did a great job adding players to address the defensive tackle spot, but how many of those guys are actual game-changers?

That’s not a knock on the staff, game-changing defensive linemen don’t go into the portal too often. I think Rondell Bothroyd and Da’Jon Terry are solid starters, but will those guys be the game-wreckers the Sooners need up front?

Both need to be better than what we saw last year. If they can just hold up in the run and take that away, I think Venables can figure out ways to generate pressure with blitzes. Last year’s issue was they couldn’t stop the run, and they couldn’t rush the passer. Not a good combo.

This will be an issue we will not know an answer to until about midseason. Because of the way the Sooners started last year, you would have thought OU had a great D-line and then they fell off.

The next question is who will be the wide receiver that steps up for the Sooners? Marvin Mims is no longer coming through that door. Jalil Farooq has potential, but he struggled with drops and didn’t reach 500 yards last year as a second option.

Is Andrel Anthony the answer? He struggled with drops at Michigan and rarely played. We keep hearing great things about Nic Anderson and Jayden Gibson, but Anderson struggles with injuries and Gibson struggles with drops (see the game-winning pass in the spring game).

Maybe it’s one of the freshmen? That’s a possibility but we have to wait to  see on that. I know he’s not a wide receiver, but I like Austin Stogner as much as anyone. However, he also has never had 500 yards receiving and had only 210 yards last season for South Carolina. Can he replace Brayden Willis’ numbers? I don’t know.

Lastly, Venables has to be better at time management. There were times last year he admitted to talking to the defense and then looking out on the field and seeing OU punting and wondering what happened. He has to be more hands-off with the defense during the games and let the coaches coach them while he focuses on helping Jeff Lebby know when to go fast and when to slow down.

I think that’s one reason James Skalski was brought on board. Now, we have to give Venables a little bit of a pass because it was his first year coaching, but he better make improvements there or the Sooners can’t go where they want to go this season.

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What’s next for Oklahoma after losing out on 5-star linebacker?

What’s Oklahoma’s linebacker pursuits look like after missing out on 5-Star target Sammy Brown?

Just a day after five-star linebacker [autotag]Sammy Brown[/autotag], the No. 14 overall prospect, committed to Clemson, the Sooners are working on what is next.

This is the second big piece at linebacker the Sooners were hoping to land who chose to play elsewhere. Four-star [autotag]Peyton Pierce[/autotag] committed to Ohio State.

We know the Sooners are still in contact with Pierce, so a flip is possible.

Could a flip also be possible for Brown? It’s possible but unlikely. As of right now, he’s scheduled to be in Norman for the ChampU BBQ, but it’s unclear if he has canceled that visit.

Now, would Brent Venables recruit against his old team after a player has committed there? He previously didn’t, but I think he would in this scenario since he’s now been gone for a little more than a year.

So, if the Sooners can’t flip either of those prospects, what do they do next? Some names we’ve heard are three-star [autotag]Michael Boganowski[/autotag], four-star Tyanthony Smith and, more recently, three-star [autotag]Easton Baker[/autotag].

None of those three bring the same hype as a five-star, but one thing  Venables knows very well is linebacker play. That’s something I would trust him on regardless of a rating.

So let’s break down each player, starting with Boganowski.

Some people see him as a hybrid. He’s 6 feet, 2 inches and 200 pounds and lives in Junction City, Kansas, an area Venables has had success in. The main competition will be Kansas State. According to On3, the Sooners hold a slight lead.

When talking about Oklahoma, he told Rivals a week ago, “They are going to the SEC, and they have made it clear that I am a priority. Coach Brent Venables is a winner, and it would be cool to play in one of his defenses.”

Smith’s recruitment is going to be a dogfight. He’s a highly-talented player from Jasper, Texas. He’s 6 feet, 1 inch and 205 pounds. Several schools are after him; Texas and Texas A&M appear to be Oklahoma’s main competition.

[autotag]Baker[/autotag] is a 6-foot, 190-pound linebacker from Tooele, Utah. He has come up quite a bit recently. Washington State looks to be the Sooners’ main competition. He was originally committed to BYU and will be in Norman for the ChampU BBQ on June 16.

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What could the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024 schedule look like in the SEC?

With the SEC deciding on an eight-game conference schedule for 2024, here’s how the Oklahoma Sooners schedule could look in their first year in the SEC.

At their spring meetings in Destin, Florida, the SEC decided to continue their use of an eight-game schedule for the 2024 season. It was one of the bigger debates at hand for a conference that’s been at the forefront of college football for some time.

Settling on an eight-game schedule, the SEC put in several provisions for how the league members should schedule nonconference games. Namely, each team would schedule at least one Power Five team. That could prove problematic for the Sooners.

Oklahoma has just two nonconference games scheduled for the 2024 season. The Sooners will play Temple and Tulane. Georgia would have been on the slate, but after Oklahoma and Texas announced they would join the SEC, the conference directed Georgia to cancel its nonconference game with the Sooners.

So that leaves a hole in the schedule. Because the Sooners have just two nonconference games scheduled, they’ll have to find two more games. Perusing future nonconference schedules, we found a pair of games that could make a lot of sense if Joe Castiglione can work his athletic director magic to make it happen.

Here’s a look at what the Sooners’ 2024 schedule could look like when it gets released on July 14 on the SEC network.

Nation’s top interior OL includes the Oklahoma Sooners in top 8

Oklahoma Sooners included in top 8 for the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the country.

The Oklahoma Sooners have built such a reputation along the offensive line that they generally get mentioned in recruiting battles for the top offensive line of the country.

The Sooners have been recruiting four-star offensive lineman Liam Andrews heavily for the last year, hosting him on a pair of unofficial visits this spring. The Sooners offered the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the country last May and have kept building the relationship. That’s earned the Sooners a place on Andrews’ top 10 as he narrows his recruitment.

The Sooners are included alongside Penn State, Wisconsin, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Florida, and South Carolina.

“Oklahoma is a place with great culture,” Andrews told On3’s Hayes Fawcett. “They have a great program for personal development outside of football and have a great fanbase and culture. Ol Coach Bedenbaugh is a great developer of NFL talent as well.”

Verified size with impressive length. Being recruited to play on offensive and defensive lines but more upside on offensive side. Has basketball and lacrosse in his athletic background. Jumbo athlete with impressive athleticism given size that stood out during in-person eval. Excellent body control. Twitched athlete with ability to bend and win leverage regardless of which side of ball being played. Plays physical and fast. Consistently manhandles physically overmatched prospects. Embraces physical aspect. Has fast and active hands. As offensive lineman, is sound technically and athleticism shines. Sinks hips well and drives up and into defender. Consistently gets hands inside and uses strength well. Initial punch is forceful and with meaning. Is strong is pass pro base. Plays mean and with nasty streak. Once engaged, drives legs and clears the defender with ease. On defense, mostly lines up as 5-tech. Gets off quickly at snap and can stack and shed. Demonstrates closing speed. Flashes swim and rip moves. Well drilled and uses combination moves. Technique is strong and impressive given work load on both sides of ball. Shows some ability to dip shoulder and get around edge. Build and skill set likely means move inside in college if he remains on defense. Has to continue to develop upper body strength. In pass pro, has to work on kick step and refine ability to mirror. Multi-year starter who can get early playing time at high-level program. Has early round NFL draft potential. – Brian Dohn, 247Sports National Recruiting Expert

Though the Oklahoma Sooners will have to overcome the big-time programs on the east coast, they’ve shown the ability to recruit across the country. With Bill Bedenbaugh’s track record, you can’t rule the Sooners out of any recruitment until a prospect signs their national letter of intent.

Liam Andrews’ Recruiting Profile

Projections

Film

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