After a spring that left many observers feeling positive about the Sooners, Oklahoma has emerged once again as the favorites to win the Big 12. Not really a surprise considering they’ve won the conference more than anyone since its inception. Even after they depart for the SEC, it will take decades for anyone to match the 14 conference titles Oklahoma has won since 1996.
Oklahoma has as many conference titles as the other eight teams to win the Big 12. Remove Texas A&M, Colorado, and Nebraska who left in the last round of realignment and the Sooners have four more conference championships than the nine remaining members of the Big 12 combined.
Three out of four analysts over at Athlon Sports picked the Oklahoma Sooners as the favorites to win the Big 12. Here’s what Allen Kenney had to say about the Sooners. Allen Kenney, Ben Weinrib, and Mark Ross feel good about the Oklahoma Sooners’ chances of winning the conference in 2022.
The confidence they have in a team that lost a ton this offseason comes from their confidence in Brent Venables as a football coach and Dillon Gabriel at quarterback. Here’s a snippet of what Weinrib had to say about the Sooners.
Brent Venables was about as strong of a hire as the Sooners could have hoped for, as he’s intimately familiar with the program. And for all that the team lost through the transfer portal, they did bring in potentially the best quarterback in the conference in Dillon Gabriel. – Weinrib, Athlon Sports
In addition to their new quarterback and their new head coach reinvigorating a program that was “close” but seemingly drifting further from national title contention, the schedule plays out in the Sooners’ favor in 2022.
OU also has a favorable schedule in ’22 that will bring Baylor, Kansas State and Oklahoma State to Norman. It all points to a spot in the conference championship game for the Sooners, at minimum. – Kenney, Athlon Sports
The lone dissenting opinion comes from Steve Lassan who thinks the Baylor Bears should be the favorites.
I could make a case for a couple of teams here, but at the end of spring practice, I’d go Baylor over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State for the top spot. Texas and Kansas State are intriguing wild-card teams that could push for a trip to the conference title game if things break right. The Bears aren’t without concerns, however. Coach Dave Aranda’s team lost defensive standouts Terrel Bernard (LB) and Jalen Pitre (DB), while the offense lost its top three statistical receivers and running back Abram Smith. Also, Baylor had a plus-12 turnover margin and won four games by one score last season. Those numbers tend to hint at regression the next year. However, Oklahoma is in transition under its new staff, and Oklahoma State loses quite a bit of talent on defense and has a few gaps to fill up front and at the skill spots on offense. Texas doesn’t lack for talent, but can coach Steve Sarkisian find the right answers along the offensive line and on defense? This is a wide-open conference, and with uncertainty running high, I’ll trust Aranda to push the right buttons once again this year. – Lassan, Athlon Sports
While Oklahoma may be considered the favorites by many to win the Big 12, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and Texas will have their say in the conference title race as well. As Lassan points out, Baylor may experience some regression, but they’re still a good team and may have an upgraded quarterback situation going from Gerry Bohanon to Blake Shapen.
Oklahoma experienced a lot of turnover from a defense that wasn’t as good as it should have been in 2022. Namely, the losses of [autotag]Nik Bonitto[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Thomas[/autotag], [autotag]Perrion Winfrey[/autotag], [autotag]Brian Asamoah[/autotag], and [autotag]Delarrin Turner-Yell[/autotag], who will be playing on Sundays this fall. Throw in the transfer of [autotag]Pat Fields[/autotag] to Stanford and that’s a ton of experience and production out the door.
That’s not to say the Sooners can’t improve upon a defense that finished 76th in yards per game and 60th in points per game in 2022. If the potential is matched with production, the Sooners’ defense will be as good as any in the Big 12 this season.
Marcus Stripling, Ethan Downs, and Reggie Grimes will be tough to stop off the edge. Jalen Redmond will be a force in the middle. The Sooners still have a strong secondary with [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] and [autotag]D.J. Graham[/autotag], [autotag]Key Lawrence[/autotag], and [autotag]Justin Broiles[/autotag] coming back. Throw in a scheme that won’t sit back and let quarterbacks get comfortable, and the Sooners’ defense should be able to answer all the questions in Venables’ first year in Norman.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=none image=https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=63100]
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.