Preview 2019: Previewing and looking ahead to the Oklahoma Sooners season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
– Oklahoma Previews 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2018 Record: 12-2 overall, 8-1 in Big 12
Head Coach: Lincoln Riley, 24-4, 3rd year
– CFN Preview 2019: All The Team Previews
5. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA OFFENSE
– With eight starters and a Heisman-winning No. 1 overall drat pick gone, how do you possibly keep it all going after leading the nation in total and scoring offense, averaging 570 yards and 48 points per game? It’s not like the cupboard is bare of talent, and the system is still in place to be unstoppable again. It just might be in a different sort of way, because …
– Jalen Hurts isn’t Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield – he has played in two national championships. No one is expecting the Alabama transfer to put up historically efficient passing numbers like the last two top overall picks in the respective drafts, and he’s not as fast as Murray was/is, but he was more than fine throwing the ball in spring ball and chilled out most concerns that he could run the attack.
With Austin Kendall gone to take over the West Virginia offense, the backup job will be a battle between redshirt freshman Tanner Mordecai and expected next-big-thing super-recruit Spencer Rattler to be the main man – maybe – next year.
– Hollywood Brown is gone after leading the team with 75 catches, but this should still be among the best receiving corps in college football. CeeDee Lamb is another NFL talent who finished second on the team with 65 catches and led the way with 11 touchdowns,
Senior Lee Morris averaged close to 22 yards per catch with eight touchdowns, 6-4, 221-pound junior Grant Calcaterra is one of the nation’s top tight ends, and then come the five-star freshmen. Don’t be shocked if the rookie trio of Theo Wease, Jadon Haselwood, and Trejan Bridges all have big roles right out of the box.
– The running back situation is loaded, too. The 1-2 punch of 5-11, 205-pound sophomore Kennedy Brooks and 6-0, 224-pound junior Trey Sermon good enough to combine for over 2,000 yards again. Sermon averaged 5.8 yards per carry with 13 scores, Brooks averaged close to nine yards per carry with 12 touchdowns, and sophomore TJ Pledger is also talented enough to carry the ground game if needed. However …
– The offensive line should take a step back after being among the nation’s best. It’ll still be good, and excellent prospects will rise up, but last year’s front five lost Cody Ford, Bobby Evans Dru Samia and Ben Powers to the NFL – all were drafted before the fifth round. The starting five will eventually be fine, but the depth will be an early concern.
6-5, 325-pound sophomore Creed Humphrey is a big talent at center, and sophomore guard combination of Marquis Hayes and Tyrese Robinson should grow into a positive – Hayes is the stronger of the two. The tackle situation is a bit more of a concern – it’ll take fall camp to lock it down. 6-6, 328-pound sophomore
Adrian Ealy was the main backup behind Ford on the right side last year, 6-5, 315-pound junior Erik Swenson was part of the mix behind Evans on the left side, and sophomore Finley Felix and star recruit Stacey Wilkins will be in the fight.
NEXT: What You Need To Know About the Defense, Top Players, Keys to the Season, What Will Happen
4. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA DEFENSE
– No, really. The Oklahoma defense won’t be so miserable this season. Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is a big-time talent who knows how to help force takeaways and be more aggressive. Last year’s OU D was the worst in America against the pass, wasn’t anything special against the run, and ended up dead last in the Big 12 in total and scoring defense.
Seven of the top eight tacklers and nine starters are back. Now everyone needs to be a whole lot better, starting with …
– The line not only needs to hold up, but it has to bring more pressure. It didn’t do much to help out the beleaguered secondary without enough plays behind the line and with just 29 tackles. 6-2, 330-pound senior Neville Gallimore came up with 50 tackles and wasn’t bad at getting behind the line considering his size, and 6-3, 290-pound Dillon Faamatau will see plenty of time on the inside.
The pass rush has to come from Ronnie Perkins, a 6-3, 253-pound sophomore who came up with a nice first season with 37 tackles with five sacks and eight tackles for loss. He’ll combine with versatile 264-pound senior Kenneth Mann – who made 51 stops – on the end.
– Curtis Bolton is gone from the linebacking corps after coming up with 139 stops, but 238-pound junior Kenneth Murray returns as the leader and volume-tackler on the inside after coming up with 155 tackles. 6-2, 230-pound junior Bryan Mead will bring some size into the mix.
Losing fourth-leading tackler Caleb Kelly to an offseason injury hurts, putting the pressure on sophomore 221-pound sophomore DaShaun White and 6-1, 226-pound sophomore Levi Draper to become factors on the outside.
– There’s a ton of talent and experience returning to the secondary, but there’s a whole lot of work to do after allowing a nation-worst 294 passing yards per game and picking off a mere six passes.
Parnell Motley will play somewhere. The 6-0, 177-pound senior made 63 tackles with a team-high three picks, and junior Tre Norwood is a good-tackling corner with nice size and the experience to do more.
Junior Robert Barnes started at safety for most of last year – finishing with 54 tackles – but he’s going to be pushed for time. Sophomore Patrick Fields is a high-rising safety prospect who got his feet with 13 tackles in a half a season of work – he’s got great range and 5-11, 193-pound size – and fellow sophomore Justin Broiles is back after making 24 tackles in his first year.
NEXT: Top Players, Keys To the Season, What Will Happen
3. TOP OKLAHOMA PLAYERS
Best Oklahoma Offensive Player
WR CeeDee Lamb, Jr.
The hope is for Mr. Hurts to become the teams/nation’s best player, but in terms or pro prospect talent, TE Grant Calcaterra and Lamb are the ones who’ll have the scouts buzzing.
Hollywood Brown was the lightning-fast superstar receiver who led the team with 75 catches for 1,318 yards with ten scores, and Lamb was right there, catching 65 balls for 1,158 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he averaged more yards per catch – 17.82 vs. 17.57 – than the now-Baltimore Raven, too. At 6-2 and 189 pounds, he’s got the size to go along with the athleticism and speed to be a first round draft pick like Brown.
2. QB Jalen Hurts, Sr.
3. TE Grant Calcaterra, Jr.
4. RB Trey Sermon, Jr.
5. RB Kennedy Brooks, Soph.
Best Oklahoma Defensive Player
LB Kenneth Murray, Jr.
The 6-2, 238-pounder is a big-hitting leader and star of a defense that’s about to undergo a wee bit of an overhaul/attitude change. Overall, the D might have struggled and couldn’t come up with enough stops, but Murray did everything he could to get around the ball with 155 tackles with 4.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss in his all-star season.
He’s a good, smart, tough attitude guy who came up with 28 tackles against Army, followed it up with 17, and did what he could in the Orange Bowl loss to Alabama with 15 stops. In all, he came up with double-digit tackles in nine over the team’s last 12 games.
2. CB Parnell Motley, Sr.
3. LB Ronnie Perkins, Soph.
4. CB Tre Brown, Jr.
5. DT Neville Gallimore, Sr.
NEXT: Keys to the Season, Prediction & What Will Happen
2. KEYS TO THE SEASON
Biggest Key To The Oklahoma Offense
Nitpicking time … maybe do a little more to control the clock.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s not how the OU O rolls, and hitting home runs off of big plays in the fast-paced attack is how the program got to two straight College Football Playoffs, but considering the defense still isn’t going to be a brick wall – even if it’s improved – going on long marches from time to time will help the overall cause.
Maybe use a little more of the ground game by leaning more on the deep backfield loaded with talent and experience. Maybe let Jalen Hurts be Jalen Hurts and simply keep the chains moving, and maybe …
Whatever.
Just keep hitting the lightning fast receivers in stride, keep blowing through Big 12 defenses with big play after big play, and keep daring opposing offenses to try keeping up the pace. But to do all of that, everyone needs time to work.
The real key is getting the offensive line going in a hurry. The skill talent is more than there to assure at least a top ten overall finish in total O – even if it’s not quite the same ridiculous machine of the last few seasons – but there can’t be a slew of injuries to the starting five.
Biggest Key To The Oklahoma Defense
Pick off more passes, come up with a third down stop, don’t have the nation’s worst pass defense, come up with a fourth down stop, don’t be last in the nation in first downs allowed, and come up with a stop in the red zone.
Good luck, defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. Have fun with this.
Considering the Oklahoma offense put up a bazillion points a game, the Oklahoma defense’s job was to not allow a bazillion and one – and it often succeeded.
With the new changes, the renewed emphasis on stopping someone, and with tackling no longer optional, this should be a better D. It all starts with improving the play of the secondary.
Yeah, Big 12 teams bombed away, and yeah, the Sooners had to deal with Alabama, but they also had Army’s no-throw offense in the equation and still allowed more passing yards per game than anyone.
How bad was the pass defense? Oklahoma was hit for 294 yards per game. The second-worst pass D was Texas Tech’s and it allowed 288 yards per outing.
Okay, but offenses had to throw to try to stay in games. Yeah, but even though only four defenses had more passes attempted against them than OU dealt with, the Sooner D still only managed to come up with six picks.
Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Jalen Hurts, Sr.
It’s actually redshirt freshman kicker Gabe Brkic and/or sophomore punter Reeves Mundschau, because all they have to do is replace Austin Seibert, who averaged 41 yards per punt and nailed 17-of-19 field goals. Obviously, though, for a program that’s looking to take that next step forward and play for the national title, it’s the former Alabama star who has to lead them.
Is Hurts another Baker Mayfield or Kyler Murray? Maybe not as a big-time NFL bomber, but he’s a better passer than you think.
In his three seasons with the Crimson Tide, he completed 63% of his throws, averaged eight yards per pass, and threw 48 touchdown passes with just 12 picks.
Famously, he couldn’t get much of anything going in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Georgia, but 1) he was the starting quarterback in a CFP national championship, 2) twice, and 3) was one Clemson pick play/epic Deshaun Watson drive away from being forever known for a national title-winning touchdown run to pull Bama’s butt out of the fire.
Now, all he has to do is connect with his open receivers in stride – he can do that.
He can keep the chains moving, he can be the cool leader with the credibility to say, “been there, done that,” and he was Nick Saban’s starting quarterback as a true freshman.
The pressure of being the next in line after two Heisman-winning No. 1 overall draft picks won’t faze him.
Key Game To The Oklahoma Season
at Oklahoma State, Nov. 30
Obviously the October 12th game against Texas is the big one on the slate, but like last season, it might not mean a whole lot – okay, it did, because OU would’ve been left out of the CFP if Georgia hadn’t tried that fake punt and/or Jalen Hurts didn’t go off in the SEC Championship – considering the Sooners ended up getting into the College Football Playoff.
The Big 12 overall isn’t bad, but considering the toughest true road games until the regular season finale are at Baylor and Kansas State, Oklahoma should be no worse than 10-1 before going up the road 80 miles to deal with the Bedlam game.
Oklahoma State will be good enough to pull this off. Last year, it took everything in the bag for the Sooners to get by 48-47, and the 62-52 shootout in 2017 was epic. 2014 was the last time the Cowboys won, but this time around, a loss will probably be the difference between OU going 11-1 with the CFP still on the table, and – assuming there’s a hiccup somewhere – 10-2 and out of the fun.
– Oklahoma Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2018 Oklahoma Fun Stats
– Average Yards Per Catch: Oklahoma 16.5 – Opponents 13.1
– Fumbles: Oklahoma 9 (lost 6) – Opponents 9 (lost 5)
– Rushing TDs: Oklahoma 42 – Opponents 22
NEXT: What Will Happen
1. OKLAHOMA WIN TOTAL PREDICTION: WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN
The Sooners are overdue to get over the hump.
They’ve had the coaching, they’ve had the talent, and they’ve had the schemes to go from being a College Football Playoff participant to finally getting back on the biggest stage for the first time since the 2008 season.
The offense will be more than fine with Jalen Hurts running it, and it’ll be more than fine if it’s hotshot recruit Spencer Rattler or redshirt freshman Tanner Mordecai under center, too.
The running backs are among the nation’s best, the receiving corps is among the nation’s best, and the line will be okay as long as it’s able to come together over the first few games.
The defense can’t and won’t be any worse. There’s too much experience, too much talent, and Alex Grinch is too good a defensive coordinator for there to be so many issues again.
The Sooners won’t quite be at the level of Alabama and Clemson, but it’ll be seated in the next table back, along with Georgia, Texas, Ohio State and Michigan. OU keeps on fielding great teams, and eventually the breaks will fall the right way.
But before dealing with a possible Big 12 Championship and trip to the College Football Playoff …
Set The Regular Season Win Total At … 11
The opener against Dana Holgorsen’s Houston team will be a dangerous shootout, and going to UCLA won’t be a breeze, but come on – any team worthy of thinking about going to the CFP can’t worry about those two.
The Big 12 is solid. TCU is going to be far better, West Virginia will be dangerous, and Iowa State will be pesky again, but all three of those games are in Norman.
Beat Texas in Dallas, take down Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma State on the road, and it’ll all set up nicely for another shot at the big prize.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis
