Oklahoma fans hope that Athlon Sports is underrating the Sooners heading into the 2024 season.
The Oklahoma Sooners are weeks away from beginning Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era.
Nationally, the media thinks Oklahoma could have a good season, but that ultimately the offensive line and a tough schedule will be their undoing. The Sooners landed outside the top 15 in the coaches poll to begin the season.
The expectation in Norman is to win championships, and the hope in Sooner Nation is Oklahoma can make the expanded 12-team [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] this year. It’s an uphill climb with a daunting schedule, but OU isn’t the place to be if you have middle-of-the-road expectations.
Athlon Sports, however, believes Oklahoma will miss the playoff in their preseason bowl projections.
With a new conference comes new bowl tie-ins. Gone are the familiar Big 12 bowls OU fans are used to. However, Athlon staff writer Steve Lassan thinks Oklahoma will end up in a matchup against a former conference opponent.
Lassan projects the Sooners will wind up in the TaxAct Texas Bowl, which is played in Houston on New Year’s Eve. The Texas Bowl tie-ins are the SEC and the Big 12, and Lassan thinks Oklahoma will be looking for revenge against the Kansas Jayhawks, one of two conference opponents that beat it last year.
For reference, the SEC’s representative in the Texas Bowl in 2023 was Texas A&M. The Aggies went 7-5 in the regular season before falling in Houston against the Big 12’s Oklahoma State, 31-23. With the expanded playoff, protecting bowl bids from previous seasons might be a lost cause: Eight more teams will earn playoff spots than before.
Still, the Texas Bowl would not be where OU fans would like to see their season finish. It is not even one of the top SEC bowls outside of the playoff. The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl bid is awarded to the first SEC team that misses the playoff. In that game, the SEC team faces a [autotag]Big Ten[/autotag] program. This projection lines up with Athlon’s prediction for the Sooners this season. It has picked OU to finish eighth in the SEC as has the conference media.
However, Venables hopes new starting quarterback [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] can get the protection he needs from a rebuilt offensive line so that he can spread the ball around to his many offensive weapons. Venables is also hoping his defense has taken another step forward and can become a force in the SEC. There’s talent at every level of the unit.
The Sooners are thinking much bigger than a Texas Bowl berth. Still, a rematch against Kansas would be a great opportunity to get revenge against the Jayhawks. Last year KU beat Oklahoma for the first time since 1997 in a 38-33 upset. The loss in Lawrence ended OU’s unbeaten season and ultimately was part of the reason it missed the conference title game in 2023.
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