No. 1 – Oklahoma Sooners
Winners of the last five Big 12 championship, Oklahoma is expected to be back on top of the conference once again this season. Keeping head coach Lincoln Riley away from the NFL, nothing will change on the offensive side of the ball, keeping their high powered and paced attack rolling into 2020. As for the defense, improving from a horrific 2018, last year’s defense showed signs of improvement.
After four years of starting quarterbacks via transfer in Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts, a signal-caller the Sooners recruited is expected to start for them to open the season. Spencer Rattler was a five-star quarterback coming out of high school and will be handed the keys to the offense in his second season. There will be a battle throughout camp with this year’s backup Tanner Mordecai, but Rattler will be the guy.
Losing star players like wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and linebacker Kenneth Murray will hurt, but a big name coming back to Norman is Creed Humphrey. The anchor of the offensive line, they will be looking to get back to their roots of having an elite level line. If they are able to protect for Rattler, he will be able to find his downfield threats like Charles Rambo and Jadon Haselwood.
Oklahoma has proven they do not need an elite level defense to win the conference. Now that it is improving, thinking about how much more dominant they can become is a scary thought. The Sooners usually always slip up for at least one game in the regular season but find themselves back in the Big 12 championship game every year since its rebirth in 2017. Expect nothing less this season.
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