Tag: Oklahoma Sooners football 2024

Where does 247Sports have Sooners in updated SEC power rankings?

Oklahoma could be one of the best teams in the country in 2024, but the SEC is a different animal than the Big 12.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been official members of the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] for two weeks now, but the process of getting “SEC-ready” began when [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] was hired as the head coach in December 2021. Venables arrived in Norman less than six months after news of the SEC move leaked.

The program had two-and-a-half years to get ready for the toughest conference in college football. Now we’re a few short weeks from the beginning of the 2024 season, OU’s first in the SEC.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports updated his SEC power rankings ahead of [autotag]SEC media days[/autotag] this week. He also included where each team ranked in his eyes pre-spring.

Crawford made sure to note how strong the league is, pointing to updated league-wide power rankings and the chance that more than half of the SEC will be ranked inside various preseason polls next month, a record for a conference strengthened by the additions of the Sooners and the Texas Longhorns.

Crawford dropped the Sooners to ninth in his preseason SEC rankings, one spot below his pre-spring ranking. He flipped Oklahoma and the Texas A&M Aggies on his list. Here’s what he had to say about the Sooners with six weeks to go until kickoff:

“This is not a ranking indicative of how we’re projecting teams will finish in 2024, but is more of a look at rosters approaching fall camp and which programs would win head-to-head matchups with each other if games were played next week. These power rankings could look very different by the end of September,” Crawford said. “The first of the SEC’s newcomers this fall, Oklahoma hasn’t received the same heightened level of preseason love as their cohorts from Texas. Part of that is based on the Sooners’ loaded schedule with a first-year starting quarterback in [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] who will see his share of bullets early. A few portal acquisitions will be immediate starters and the back seven for the Sooners is one of the league’s best with linebacker [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] returning, cornerback [autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag] and hard-hitting safety [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag].”

Crawford certainly isn’t the first to praise OU’s back seven or have doubts about the offensive line protecting the new starter in Arnold. Ultimately, the schedule could be one of the keys to the season. If Brent Venables’ and [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag]’s defense can lead the way early on while [autotag]Bill Bedenbaugh[/autotag]’s offensive line gets settled, it could pay major dividends later in the year.

September and October games against Tennessee, Texas and Ole Miss loom large, interspersed with interesting contests against Auburn and South Carolina.

Arnold’s inexperience is real, but so is his ability and upside. He has the makeup and tools to be Oklahoma’s next great QB under center.

A good start by Stutsman, Bowman and the rest of the defense would take the pressure off Arnold and his new offensive coordinators [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag].

The end of the schedule is brutal with games against Missouri in Columbia, Alabama in Norman and LSU in Baton Rouge. If the Sooners are in a solid place record-, team- and program-wise by then, they’ll afford themselves a little wiggle room with the expanded 12-team [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag].

Starting fast will be the key for Oklahoma, and playing complementary football will certainly pay off if the Sooners can finish strongly. If pieces fall into place and the inexperienced parts of the roster grow up quickly, the Sooners could finish a lot better than ninth in the SEC in 2024.

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Who will be Oklahoma’s backup quarterback in 2024?

Oklahoma has options on the quarterback depth chart behind starter Jackson Arnold.

Backup quarterback is a position few fans or coaches ever want to think about. However, it’s an important role to have decided before going into any season.

The Oklahoma Sooners have zero doubt who their starting quarterback will be in Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] was tabbed long ago as the player who would be the face of the Sooners as they left the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] for the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

The quarterback room as a whole has seen a major reshuffle around the former five-star prospect. Former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] is the head coach at Mississippi State. Former offensive analyst [autotag]Matt Wells[/autotag], who worked with the QBs, is the co-offensive coordinator at Kansas State. Former assistant quarterbacks coach [autotag]Matt Holocek[/autotag] followed Lebby to Starkville.

[autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag] were promoted to co-offensive coordinators to replace Lebby, with Littrell coaching quarterbacks and likely serving as the primary play-caller. Finley will continue to coach tight ends. [autotag]Kevin Johns[/autotag], who was the OC and QBs coach at Duke for the last two seasons, was hired by Venables as an offensive analyst this offseason to replace Wells. Johns has worked under Littrell before and received his coaching start working for former Oklahoma OC and current Tulsa head coach [autotag]Kevin Wilson[/autotag]. [autotag]Jack Lowary[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Hatcher[/autotag] were hired in December as offensive support staff, and both have worked with QBs.

[autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]Davis Beville[/autotag], [autotag]General Booty[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Switzer[/autotag] left the program via the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag] this offseason, leaving Arnold as the only player in the QB room who was here a season ago.

Behind Arnold, Oklahoma has four other quarterbacks on the roster heading into the 2024 season. Veteran transfer [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], true freshmen [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag], and late transfer enrollee [autotag]Steele Wasel[/autotag] make up the rest of the quarterback unit.

Which of these players has the best chance to be called upon if something happens to Arnold? After all, we saw the situation play out last season when Arnold’s redshirt year was burned because he had to replace Gabriel in the second half of a must-win game against BYU.

Casey Thompson has the experience you look for in a college football backup quarterback. The seventh-year “senior” has made stops at Texas, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic over the past few years. He’s Oklahoma royalty, having seen his father [autotag]Charles Thompson[/autotag] and his older brother [autotag]Kendal Thompson[/autotag] play for the Sooners before him. He joined the program as a walk-on transfer this offseason, and has been recovering from injury, meaning he was unable to participate in spring football.

Michael Hawkins Jr., another Oklahoma legacy, provides the young and uber-talented backup option. The true freshman hails from Frisco Emerson High School in Texas, and he could be the future of the position if he develops over the next two seasons behind Arnold. He’s a dual-threat quarterback, flashing his talent in the [autotag]2024 spring game[/autotag].

Brendan Zurbrugg was the second quarterback the Sooners took in the [autotag]2024 recruiting class[/autotag], and his road to playing time is longer than his fellow true freshman’s. Zurbrugg is from Alliance, Ohio, and will be a depth player this season. He was taken by Oklahoma this year for a reason. He’ll have a chance to show what he has in practice.

Steele Wasel is the newest member of the group, transferring in from Akron in early June. He’ll be the fifth quarterback on the roster this season, and the in-state product will provide depth and a practice arm as a walk-on, getting the opportunity to practice against [autotag]Power Four[/autotag] players in Norman.

Thompson and Hawkins Jr. are the front-runners to serve as Arnold’s backup, but they’re on opposite ends of the experience spectrum. It may depend on the nature or severity of an Arnold injury to see which of them plays. Zurbrugg and Wasel are farther back in the competition, but college football has a way of making the unexpected the reality sometimes.

For instance, if Arnold is injured for part of a game and Littrell needs someone to finish the job, he might go with the steady hand of Thompson to help the Sooners win a close game, especially if it comes in a tough environment. If Arnold’s absence stretches multiple games, the talent and upside of Hawkins Jr. might be the way to go, considering the microscopic margin of error in the SEC. If either of those backups go down, Zurbrugg or Wasel could see an expanded role.

The competition will likely extend throughout fall camp, but Venables, Littrell and Finley need to have an answer at backup QB.

They’ll need to prepare either the experienced Thompson or the young Hawkins Jr. to hold the weight of Sooner Nation on their shoulders if the worst-case scenario happens. While they’re at it, it doesn’t hurt to get Zurbrugg or even Wasel ready to go just in case chaos reigns in 2024.

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Where does Greg McElroy have Oklahoma in his preseason Top 25?

OU is mixed in with plenty of current members of its former conference in McElroy’s preseason Top 25 rankings.

The Oklahoma Sooners enter the 2024 season with more fanfare than they did a year ago. It’s Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era. OU bounced back in 2023 with a 10-3 mark after an unacceptable 6-7 season in 2022.

The Sooners exit the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] and enter the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] this season, causing many national analysts to doubt how high Oklahoma could finish with a brutal schedule. Still, they’re firmly in the Top 25 entering the season with a chance to prove the naysayers wrong.

One ESPN college football expert believes the Sooners have work to do to get into the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] in 2024. Greg McElroy is the host of the ESPN podcast “Always College Football” and is a part of ESPN’s No. 2 broadcast booth for college football, providing color commentary alongside Sean McDonough’s play-by-play.

The former national championship-winning quarterback released his preseason Top 25 rankings, placing the Sooners at No. 17.

Oddly enough, this is one spot behind rival Oklahoma State and just ahead of current Big 12 members Utah and Kansas State. McElroy has the Sooners eighth in the SEC before the season. OU’s new conference had 10 of the 25 teams in McElroy’s list, the most of any conference.

The No. 17 ranking would mean the Sooners would be on the outside looking in at the inaugural 12-team playoff. Fortunately, it’s not about where you start, it’s about where you finish.

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Sooners have the best back seven in the SEC per Phil Steele

College football expert Phil Steele thinks OU’s back seven can match up with anybody in the SEC.

Defense was long a strength for the Oklahoma Sooners. The [autotag]Bennie Owen[/autotag], [autotag]Bud Wilkinson[/autotag], [autotag]Chuck Fairbanks[/autotag] and [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] days produced hard-nosed, hard-hitting defensive units that, along with explosive offenses, helped the Sooners win six national championships. Wilkinson and Switzer each took home three titles in the 20th century.

After the dreadful 1990s, [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag]’ arrival meant OU was back to being a contender on the national stage. “Big Game Bob” added Oklahoma’s seventh national title in 2000 and kept the Sooners in the title picture quite often in his time as the head coach.

Defense was Stoops’ calling card. He was the defensive coordinator for coaching legends Bill Snyder and Steve Spurrier. Oklahoma enjoyed stifling defenses for most of Stoops’ tenure as the head coach.

But, in the mid-to-late 2010’s, OU’s defense slipped below the standard in Norman. Stoops’ final season and the [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] era at Oklahoma saw the offense being required to carry too much of the load to keep the Sooners in the title hunt. [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag], [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Hurts[/autotag] were able to do so, but as the decade changed, the Sooners had fallen out of the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag].

After Riley’s departure to Southern California, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] was hired to bring back the defensive standard. It has taken a couple of years, but Venables may finally have the pieces in the right place to do the things he wants to do on defense.

In 2022, Venables’ first season, the Sooners were horrid defensively, leading to a 6-7 season. They allowed 30 points per game, finishing 99th in the nation in scoring defense. Last season, however, Oklahoma went 10-3 and the defense took a major step forward, improving its scoring defense 50 spots to 23.5 points per game.

Now, going into Year 3 under Venables, one college football analyst thinks OU has two of the best position units in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Phil Steele released his position rankings for every SEC team heading into the 2024 season. Oklahoma had two units ranked No. 1 in the conference.

OU’s linebackers are the SEC’s best, according to Steele. [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] leads the way on the inside, but [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag], [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag] join him to make the Sooners at least two deep at both spots. [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag] will also see more snaps in 2024 as well.

At the cheetah position, [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag] and [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag] will see the majority of the snaps, but [autotag]Samuel Omosigho[/autotag] and [autotag]Michael Boganowski[/autotag] are younger options who will be on the field quite a bit as well.

Steele also thinks OU’s secondary is the best in the conference. [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] headlines the safety position, with [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] in line for more playing time after graduation, NFL and portal losses.

At cornerback, veteran [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] returns for his fifth season, but he will be playing a little bit of everything this year. [autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Kani Walker[/autotag] and [autotag]Dez Malone[/autotag] will all be experienced options on the outside, but there’s youth at corner as well. [autotag]Jacobe Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Makari Vickers[/autotag] both saw time last year due to injuries.

More: 5 Sooners who could see an increased workload in 2024

Of course, Oklahoma needs to keep improving to get back to the way things are supposed to be for the Sooners.

Competing for and winning championships are the expectations. Quarterback, offensive line and defensive line all ranked outside of the SEC’s top five in Steele’s estimation. While the QB ranking is due to [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s inexperience, the Sooners have to get better in the trenches to be where they want to be.

However, it’s been a long time since the defense has been as loaded in Norman as it is right now. Combine that with an offense that certainly isn’t lacking in talent, and the Brent Venables vision is starting to become clearer for the Sooners. Venables has the makings of a complementary, holistic program from top to bottom.

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College football analyst has five SEC teams in the College Football Playoff

On3’s Andy Staples thinks that five of the teams in the 12-team playoff will be from the SEC.

College football is expanding to a 12-team [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

After decades of the polls deciding the national champion (1936-1991) and early attempts at creating a national championship game such as the Bowl Coalition (1992-1994) and the Bowl Alliance (1995-1997), the Bowl Championship Series was born. The [autotag]BCS[/autotag] lasted from 1998 to 2013, when the College Football Playoff was introduced and the four-team model stuck for a decade (2014-2023).

Now, the playoffs will feature 12 teams with five automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions. The top four of those champions will get a first-round bye (likely the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], [autotag]Big Ten[/autotag], [autotag]ACC[/autotag] and [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] champs). The seven at-large teams and the fifth conference champion (probably coming from the [autotag]Group of Five[/autotag]) will be seeded 5 through 12, rounding out the field with the first round of games.

It’s yet to be seen how the playoff committee will balance teams with better records coming from easier conferences like the Big 12 and ACC against teams with worse records coming from harder conferences like the Big 10 and SEC. One college football analyst, however, believes the Oklahoma Sooners’ new league will be well-represented come December.

On3’s Andy Staples gave 10 of his predictions for the [autotag]2024 college football season[/autotag]. Among the most notable was that the SEC would get five of the 12 spots in the new expanded playoffs.

“It’s not apples to apples because you can’t just port Texas or Oklahoma playoff appearances to the SEC because of how the automatic bids work and because we don’t know if those teams would have had a different record playing in a different league, but seven teams that will be in the SEC in 2024 (Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, Oklahoma) finished in the top 13 last season,” Staples said. “The No. 12 team is likely getting kicked for the highest-ranked Group of Five champ, but the power conferences are so big now that the champions of all four likely will finish in the top 11. That would keep anyone else from getting punted.”

Staples also backed up his prediction by touting the sheer competition that SEC teams will face every single week.

“The SEC’s schedule draw is the biggest reason for this prediction,” Staples said. “Alabama and Georgia got tougher conference schedules, but they’re also talented enough to handle them. Texas and Ole Miss appear to have CFP-caliber rosters and fairly manageable schedules. Missouri and Tennessee may not be perfect, but they’re going to be good and they fared well in the schedule draw. Oklahoma and LSU are Oklahoma and LSU; they’re almost always a threat to win double-digit games. That’s a lot of legitimate contenders, and it’s entirely reasonable that five-eighths of that group could finish in the top 11.”

Staples’ comments are felt by many in the new SEC footprint, hoping that the depth and competitive nature of the league will be rewarded.

For example, should a 9-3 SEC team with three close losses to playoff-caliber teams be left out in favor of a 10-2 ACC team that hasn’t played the same overall level of competition? That’s the answer Oklahoma and SEC fans are waiting for the committee to answer for the first time this winter.

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Danny Stutsman named Walter Camp preseason first team All-American

Danny Stutsman has been named a preseason Walter Camp first-team All-American.

Oklahoma Sooners star linebacker [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] has been named a preseason Walter Camp first-team All-American. The senior adds this honor to plenty of preseason accolades he’s received prior to the 2024 season.

Stutsman led the Sooners with 104 tackles in 2023, including 16 for a loss. He had three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery last year, as well as his pick-six against Tulsa. He also had three pass breakups in coverage. This all came in a little over ten games, as he missed a portion of the Kansas loss and all of the Oklahoma State loss with an injury. Oklahoma went 10-1 last season in games Stutsman started and finished.

But more than his production on the field, Stutsman is the emotional leader for the Sooners. His decision to come back to college after last season means that OU will have a respected, veteran voice back in the locker room. This will be doubly important with Oklahoma transitioning from the Big 12 to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Stutsman is one of the best linebackers in college football, and gives new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag] another coach on the field. It’s Stutsman’s third year in this defensive system and he’s used to being the focal point of it.

The senior is arguably the player who has benefitted the most from [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] presence with the Sooners. Don’t expect this to be the last preseason All-America team Stutsman finds himself on in the next couple of months.

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ESPN’s Paul Finebaum picks crucial games for Oklahoma in 2024

Paul Finebaum has his eye on two key games for Oklahoma in their debut campaign in the SEC.

The Oklahoma Sooners are officially members of the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], leaving the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] behind for greener pastures. OU will see a considerable jump in the level of competition in the new conference, with better opponents nearly every week.

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum was in Norman on Monday for the SEC celebration on campus. He went on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Tuesday, sharing his thoughts about the Sooners in the SEC.

Finebaum stated he thinks two games will be telling for Oklahoma in 2024.

“Oklahoma has two games at home that I think are critical,” Finebaum said. “It’s the Tennessee game early, and you all know what’s gonna happen when [autotag]Josh Heupel[/autotag] shows back up here. He was the hero of the last national championship. Then, Alabama at the end.”

First, this shows the spike in the level of competition OU will face in the new league. Last year’s home games were Arkansas State, SMU, Iowa State, UCF, West Virginia and TCU. There are some fine opponents on that list, but none of the caliber of the Volunteers or the Crimson Tide. Oklahoma went 6-0 at home in 2023. [autotag]Owen Field[/autotag] will be in the national spotlight far more than it has been in the past few seasons in Big 12 play.

Second, the narratives surrounding both games are drenched in drama. When Tennessee comes to town in September, it’ll be OU’s first conference game in the SEC. Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel is Oklahoma’s most recent national-championship-winning quarterback, but he was let go after four seasons as offensive coordinator following the 2014 season. Sooner Nation’s relationship could be perceived as complicated with Heupel, but both parties ultimately benefited from the split nearly a decade ago. The Sooners and Vols played a home-and-home series in 2014 and 2015 with OU winning both games, including a classic in Knoxville.

When Alabama strolls into Norman in November, two of college football’s five biggest brands and most iconic blue bloods will meet.

The Crimson Tide and the Sooners are college football.

They’ve shaped the game with memorable coaches and players for decades upon decades. [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag] and [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] will be looking for a signature win over a big-time program as two relatively unproven coaches nationally. DeBoer has coached in a national championship game, but his detractors doubt he can excel at ‘Bama. Venables won 10 games in Year 2, but the doubters don’t believe he’s unlocked what it takes to win at an elite level yet. A win for either coach would be a massive notch in his belt.

Oklahoma will host Tennessee on Sept. 21 and will face Alabama on Nov. 23. Both games will kick off in the late afternoon window or in prime time. The two big home games will certainly have College Football Playoff implications.

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Oklahoma AD takes a jab at Lincoln Riley in ‘mic drop’ moment

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione went in on former head football coach Lincoln Riley during the Sooners’ SEC celebration.

The Oklahoma Sooners have officially joined the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]; the move became official on Monday. The university held several events across Norman to celebrate the move.

SEC Network was on hand with a showcase of Oklahoma athletics. [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag], [autotag]Bob Stoops[/autotag], [autotag]Patty Gasso[/autotag] and [autotag]Skip Johnson[/autotag] were among the most notable OU figures to join SEC Network hosts.

But it wasn’t just present and former coaches who stepped into the bright lights of television. OU athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] and university president [autotag]Joseph Harroz Jr.[/autotag] joined “SEC Now” on Monday afternoon. The topic of discussion turned to the initial conversations with Oklahoma coaches about the school’s decision in 2021 to leave the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] and join the SEC.

“I will tell you without reservation,” Castiglione said, “every coach we talked to was excited. And, you know what? The ones that weren’t aren’t here anymore. This is Oklahoma. Either get with it or get on with it.”

This, of course, drew quite the reaction from the panel on “SEC Now,” that included ESPN’s Dari Nowkhah and Alyssa Lang, as well as SEC commissioner [autotag]George Sankey[/autotag]. All were well aware of who Castiglione was likely referencing.

“We call that a mic drop,” Harroz Jr. said.

Castiglione’s remarks are most likely about former head football coach [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag], who departed for USC a few months after news broke that OU would be leaving for the SEC. Riley denied the SEC move had anything to do with him leaving. Oklahoma fans, on the other hand, have long believed it’s because he didn’t want to play against the strict competition in the SEC.

Riley had three attempts against the SEC in the playoffs and came up empty. Then reports came out that Riley and the Trojans tried to get out of playing LSU this year and next. And then USC and Ole Miss canceled their two-game series.

But Castiglione dropped the biggest nugget in the whole sage.

This may be the closest thing we ever get to confirmation from Castiglione that Sooner Nation’s suspicions were, in fact, true. After news broke in July of 2021 that the Sooners were moving conferences, Riley led an unfocused 2021 regular season and bolted to Los Angeles hours after it was over.

We all remember the L.A. Times report that stated Riley’s move was months in the making. Riley, on the other hand, insists that Southern Cal convinced him to move his family across the country and be their coach in a matter of hours. Riley hopped on a plane headed west less than a day after losing to Oklahoma State at the end of 2021.

The SEC would have provided harsher competition that the Big 12 did. That’s still absolutely the case. Whether or not that’s why Riley walked may never truly be known. The important thing is Castiglione has his guy to lead the Sooners into the SEC. [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] embraced the challenge of the toughest conference in college athletics, and the Sooners are finally official members of the SEC.

All that’s left now is to win football games.

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247Sports’ Josh Pate doesn’t believe there’s a gap between OU and Texas

Is there a sizable gap between the Sooners and the Longhorns? Josh Pate of 247Sports thinks there isn’t.

The Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns are officially members of the [autotag]Southeastern Conference[/autotag]. After nearly three years of waiting, Monday marked the official move of OU and UT from the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

With both football programs making the move at the same time, naturally the question is posed by fans and analysts alike: Which team is ahead of the other heading to the SEC?

Most national analysts believe Texas is ahead of Oklahoma going into 2024. After all, the Longhorns are entering Year 4 under head coach [autotag]Steve Sarkisian[/autotag], while the Sooners are only in Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era. Both coaches inherited programs that weren’t trending in the right direction, but Sarkisian has had a year longer to build his team. Both earned contract extensions this offseason.

Texas won the [autotag]Big 12 Conference[/autotag] and made the [autotag]College Football Playoff[/autotag] in 2023, finishing 12-2. Oklahoma went 10-3, narrowly missing the conference title game and settled for a berth in the [autotag]Valero Alamo Bowl[/autotag].

One national analyst, however, doesn’t think there’s a gap between the SEC’s newest teams. 247Sports’ Josh Pate outlined both programs’ standing going into 2024 on his show “The Late Kick With Josh Pate.”

“Oklahoma is 7-3 in the last 10 against Texas. They are 11-4 in their last 15 against Texas,” Pate said. “Oklahoma’s got a 14-4 lead in conference titles since 1996, that was in the Big 12, now they’re coming to the SEC. … The last five years, Texas has averaged a ([autotag]recruiting[/autotag]) class ranked 7.4, Oklahoma’s has averaged being ranked ninth. Not a huge gap in recruiting. What about the portal, Texas has done good there, Oklahoma has done better. So they’ve got the head-to-head, they’ve got history on their side, both recently and more long-term. Recruiting has been pretty comparable, portal has been edge Oklahoma, so where in the world is the perceived gap coming from?”

Pate went on to outline three reasons Texas is seen as a step in front of OU at this stage.

“I think three things are at play. There’s bias toward Texas that I think’s undeniable,” Pate said. “No. 2, I think there’s a lot of recency bias, and what they do is they don’t think back to the [autotag]Red River Shootout[/autotag] last year. If they did that, they’d know Oklahoma won the game. More recent than that, we saw Texas make the playoff … finally Texas made some folks look smart and they love them for it. Oklahoma won double digits games last year as well and there were a couple of one-possession losses that stood between them and maybe doing a whole lot more than just a nice solid bowl game.”

But Pate’s third and final reason is the one that stands out as the most likely reason for the gap some perceive to exist.

“For some reason, the stink of Brent Venables’ first year and his record being 6-7 still lingers much more so than Sark going 5-7 his first year,” Pate said. “That was a year prior to Brent Venables’ first year, but also, Texas has a playoff appearance … whether it should or not it just washes everyone’s memory clean. Because Oklahoma had a nice year last year .. wasn’t a playoff appearance though.”

Certainly, the standard in Norman is to make the CFP once again, especially with the expansion to 12 teams. And certainly, Texas made it to where OU wanted to be last year. But, as Josh Pate suggests, the gap between the two schools isn’t nearly as big as folks in Austin and all over the country believe it to be.

In fact, there may not be a gap at all.

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How did EA Sports rate Oklahoma’s defense in ‘College Football 25?’

When “College Football 25” drops, the Oklahoma Sooners will open with one of the best defenses in the country.

EA Sports is releasing “College Football 25” on July 19, and fans are excited for the return of the college football video game series.

On Thursday, EA released its defensive ratings for the 25 best defenses in the game, and Oklahoma is just outside the top 10.

“College Football 25” has OU as the No. 12 defense ahead of the launch of the highly anticipated video game. It’s the No. 4 best defense in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. This comes following the mutual parting of ways between the program and former defensive coordinator [autotag]Ted Roof[/autotag] and the hiring of his replacement, [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag].

On the field, the Sooners have plenty of experienced talent returning on the defensive side of the ball. The secondary is led by [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] at safety and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] at cornerback, but features plenty of young talent as well.

[autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Kani Walker[/autotag] will battle for the spot opposite of Washington. [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] and [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] will see an increase in snaps this year with the departures of [autotag]Key Lawrence[/autotag] and [autotag]Reggie Pearson[/autotag].

The defensive line sees some change but still has [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag] leading the way up front. [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag] and [autotag]Trace Ford[/autotag] are veterans who will aid in the development of younger players like [autotag]Damonic Williams[/autotag], [autotag]R Mason Thomas[/autotag], [autotag]Jayden Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Adepoju Adebawroe[/autotag] and [autotag]David Stone[/autotag]. The defensive line is in a solid place moving forward even after losing [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], [autotag]Jonah Laulu[/autotag] and [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag]. The Sooners also saw [autotag]Jermayne Lole[/autotag] flip his commitment from OU to Texas in the spring portal window.

The strength of the defense is the talent and depth at linebacker. At the inside spots, [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] returns as the heart and soul of the unit. [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag], [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag], [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag] and [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag] will all see plenty of snaps alongside Stutsman. The loss of [autotag]Justin Harrington[/autotag] at the cheetah position stings, but [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag], [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag] and [autotag]Samuel Omosigho[/autotag] provide Alley will plenty of options at that spot.

The Sooners open with an 88 overall defense in “College Football 25,” tied with Texas, Penn State, Utah, Florida State and Iowa.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.