There are many metrics that can be used to grade a team’s performance in a season. When looking at the Oklahoma Sooners record for 2020, a 9-2 record is a pretty good indication of how the team performed. As legendary coach Bill Parcells once said, “you are what your record says you are.”
While that does hold true, not everything is as black and white as that statement claims. There is a multitude of variables, models, and analytics to break it down even further. One such model is the SP+ model developed by ESPN’s Bill Connelly.
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What is SP+? ESPN’s website has a quick breakdown of this model.
In a single sentence, it’s a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.
The model ranks offense, defense, and special teams. The final team ranking is determined by offense plus special teams grade and subtracts the defense-grade.
Oklahoma’s Final SP+ Ranking
| Oklahoma | Overall | Offense | Defense | Special Teams |
| Rating | 27.5 | 44.9 | 19.6 | 0.4 |
| Ranking | 4th | 3rd | 15th | 23rd |
The Sooners finished the 2020 campaign with the fourth-highest overall SP+ ranking just behind the Alabama Crimson Tide, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Clemson Tigers. Three of the four teams that competed in the 2020 College Football Playoffs. The other participant being the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who fell all the way to No. 16.
The Sooners were just on the cusp of being one of those top teams, had it not been for a couple of mishaps to begin Big 12 Conference play in weeks two and three of the season. Moving forward into the 2021 season with a more experienced quarterback in Spencer Rattler, there is a great deal of hope that Oklahoma can return to the College Football Playoffs next season after a one-year hiatus in 2020.
In an effort to look forward, Sooners Wire looks at the 2021 opponents on the schedule and how they finished out the 2020 season with their SP+ rankings. The only team not accounted for will be Western Carolina who are members of FCS (Football Championship Subdivision).