2010 Oklahoma Sooners Football Preview

2009 Results: 8-5, Won Sun Bowl vs. Stanford

Head Coach: Bob Stoops (12th year, @ Oklahoma, 117-29 Overall)

Home Venue: Gaylord-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (82,112), Norman, Oklahoma

The 2009 season was sabotaged before it truly began for Oklahoma. Eventual 1st round picks Jermaine Gresham and Sam Bradford (2008’s Heisman winner!) combined to play less than a half of football and those key injuries really stopped the team’s efforts to get back the National Title Game after losing to Florida two years ago. In losing those two superstars, the suddenly rebuilding campaign produced some silver lining: promising young QB Landry Jones got a ton of experience and now has the experience to emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Jones’ development is one of many reasons that there is so much optimism surrounding the Sooners this season. Along with a plethora of great skill position players, Jones will guide one of the most experienced offenses in the Big XII. Despite losing four 1st Round Picks, a 4 th round pick and two 5th round picks in the NFL draft, hopes are extremely high for Oklahoma. Can the Sooners make a push to win the Big XII Championship this season?

OFFENSE

While the offense had to deal with some unfortunate injury issues in 2009, it wasn’t as if the Sooners forgot how to score points. Sophomore Landry Jones (3,198 yards, 26 TDs, 14 INT in ’09) led the offense to 31 points per game, an impressive number if it wasn’t forced to compare to the previous season’s 51 point per game explosion. Jones’ passing numbers should only improve this season because his entire set of wide receivers is back, led by juniors Ryan Broyles (89 catches, 1120 yards, 15 TDs, 2nd Team All-Big XII) and Dejuan Miller (36 catches, 434 yards, 2 TDs). Broyles is probably the best receiver in the conference and the addition of superstar true freshman Kenny Stills, who enrolled early and dominated the spring, will only make this passing game more dangerous. There is no question that OU will have one of the best aerial attacks in the country this fall.

But Oklahoma won’t be a one-dimensional offense. Senior tailback DeMarco Murray (705 rush yards, 41 catches, 522 receiving yards, 12 total TDs) is a superb playmaker whose only real concern is remaining healthy. Highly touted sophomore Jermie Calhoun (220 rush yards, 1 TD) impressed in limited action last season and appears primed to step in to complete a solid tandem in the backfield. Calhoun will carry the ball a lot this season because Coach Stoops put a priority on keeping Murray healthy by resting him this spring and that means Calhoun will see the field a ton.

What I found most interesting about this unit is the offensive line. Oklahoma lost two starters to the NFL, including the 4th overall pick in April’s draft, but I actually think that this could be a more productive group! Why? Because last season’s O-Line had only one returning starter after being swamped with graduation losses and this group is significantly more experienced from the outset. After a season of constant shuffling, a more consistent lineup looks appeared to be established in the spring. I have a lot of confidence that the Sooner offense will have even more room to make plays this season with last season’s glaring flaw taken care of.

Overall, I think that Oklahoma could be in for a really great season scoring points. Jones made a lot of mistakes in his first year starting and those should be drastically cut down with the improvement in his pass protection and the presence of an excellent group of pass catchers. Furthermore, the Sooner attack has an elite tandem of runners that should be much more productive this fall. Expect a huge season from this offense in 2010 and I think that they are one of the best in the country.

DEFENSE

The unsung hero of Oklahoma’s shock rebuilding year was the play of their defense. The Sooners allowed a paltry 14.5 points per game, finishing 2 nd in the conference in scoring defense, run defense and pass defense! While there are a lot of great players to replace, there is also great talent returning: Can the Sooners repeat their exceptional showing this fall?

Starting on the D-Line, there is a lot of reason to be excited. While DT Gerald McCoy was the 3rd overall pick in the NFL draft last season, returning senior DE Jeremy Beal (70 tackles, 11 sacks, 1 INT) was a 3rd Team All-American in 2009 and classmate Adrian Taylor (37 tackles, 3.5 sacks) is a future NFL player in his own right at defensive tackle! Furthermore, junior DE Frank Alexander (23 tackles, 1.5 sacks) played extensively last season and should pair with Beal to give Oklahoma a solid pair of starting ends. With a great deal of depth on hand, there is no doubt that this will be a very productive D-Line, though they will miss McCoy’s abilities to absorb double teams and free up the rest of the line to one on one matchups.

That’s a great sign for the run defense because junior Travis Lewis (109 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT) was a 1st Team All-Big XII performer last fall and he will anchor a great front seven. He is the only returning starter at linebacker but there are a lot of talented players around him. Junior Austin Box (33 tackles) has played extensively in the last two seasons and sophomore Ronnell Lewis (22 tackles, 1 sacks) started in the Sun Bowl as a true freshman. With the steady presence of one of the nation’s best linebackers, I feel very good about this group and that means that the Sooners are going to be tough to beat on the ground this fall.

But don’t expect the defensive backs to fail to live up to their end of the deal this fall, either. Both starting safeties return, led by senior Quinton Carter (88 tackles, 4 INT), who was a 2nd Team All-Big XII choice last season. With junior Sam Proctor (44 tackles) lining up next to him, the only worry is replacing both of last season’s starting cornerbacks. Luckily, senior Jonathan Nelson (42 tackles, 1 sack, 3 INT) was one of the best nickel backs in the league and he should step in seamlessly at one of the vacant spots. With so much returning talent, I think that the Sooners will be quite strong through the air this season.

Overall, there really isn’t a weakness on this defense. Will the D-Line miss McCoy’s massive presence? Yes, but the group of returning players is extremely capable on their own and I don’t have any fears about their ability to hold up in the trenches. With another strong line making room for the Lewises to make tackles and causing enough of a pass rush to support the secondary, I think that Oklahoma is going to be very effective at shutting down opponents this fall. Expect the Sooners to be one of the best defenses in the country this season.

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SCHEDULE

The schedule is going to be difficult, as they face nine teams who played in bowl games last fall. The biggest non-league game is a titanic September visit from Florida State that could feature two top ten teams, but that’s not their only tough game. Air Force also comes to town and the Sooners also travel to two time defending Big East Champion Cincinnati before September ends!

And the Big XII schedule does them no favors, opening up with the Red River Shootout against archrival Texas coming off of FSU, Air Force and Cincy in consecutive weeks! The good news is that if Oklahoma gets through the first five weeks unscathed, they only have two legitimate road blocks to an undefeated season. Those two games are visits to Missouri and Texas A&M and that means that the Sooners avoid ancestral rival Nebraska. In the regular season, at least. This is a tough schedule for Oklahoma but the toughest stretch comes early for a pretty proven team.

OUTLOOK

There are so many things to like about this Sooner squad. The offense is loaded in every aspect, the defense appears primed for another great season, heck, even their special teams are fantastic as they have the Big XII’s best punter and a kicker who made nearly 85% of his field goal attempts last year!

But Oklahoma does have a very tough schedule, as they play ten BCS conference teams this season, tied for the most in the country. Especially difficult is the aforementioned four week stretch that begins with Florida State and ends with Texas. Needless to say, those four games will definitely set the tone for the season. The good news is that the Sooners host FSU and get Texas at a neutral site, making a visit to retooling Cincinnati their only road trip during that portion. I think that Oklahoma will start off this season with a 5-0 record and I won’t be surprised whatsoever if they’re ranked #1 in the country after beating Texas.

However, I fear that so much early success and a relatively easy stretch run could make the Sooners a bit complacent, something that they can’t have happen with visits to Missouri and Texas A&M looming. I think that the Aggies with their high-powered offense will ruin Oklahoma’s perfect season in College Station but that setback won’t be enough to prevent the Sooners from winning the Big XII South Division.

And guess who will be waiting for them? Longtime nemesis Nebraska. In a way, it is very fitting that the last conference game between these two century-old rivals will decide the conference championship, an event that was the norm in the old Big 8 for decades. Oklahoma will also be fighting for the other nine teams that are staying in the Big XII, because none of them want Nebraska to leave the league for the Big Ten as the league champions. Meanwhile, there will be added meaning to this game as I think that the winner will play for the National Championship!

Needless to say, Oklahoma’s offense will be the more explosive unit in this matchup. However, this team will feature a lot of young talent that didn’t play a great deal during their 2008 Big XII Championship campaign and I think that Nebraska’s savvy from last season’s showing in the title game will be the difference in a hard-fought game. In the end, I think that the Sooners come heartbreakingly close to winning but fall to the Cornhuskers and their time consuming strategy of running the football, controlling the clock and playing great defense. However, I am quite confident that this 11-2 team will end up in a BCS game, probably the Fiesta Bowl.

PREDICTED RESULT: 11-1 (7-1 Big XII)