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Loaded Sooners look to break bowl losing streak |
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Wednesday, July 16 2008 |
By Rusty Berry
Sports Editor
A new college football season is about to get under way and once again the Oklahoma Sooners are early favorites by most publications to win the Big 12 South.
In almost every one of Bob Stoops nine years in Norman, the Sooners have enjoyed great success on the field and consistently been one of the top five teams in the country once the season ends.
Unfortunately that success has not been carried to bowl games with the Sooners being the losers of four consecutive Bowl Championship Series games including consecutive losses in the Fiesta Bowl the last two years.
Going into the 2008 season, there are plenty of reasons for Sooner fans to have lofty expectations with eight starters returning on offense and five on defense; that should put the team in a situation to break their bowl losing streak.
Under center, the Sooners should be in good hands with sophomore Sam Bradford returning as the starter, after a freshman campaign that included setting a NCAA freshman record by throwing for 36 touchdowns.
Even with Malcolm Kelly skipping his senior season to go into the NFL draft, the team should be in good shape at receiver with seniors Juaquin Iglasias, who had 68 catches for 907 yards, and Manuel Johnson leading the passing attack.
At tight end, junior Jermaine Gresham will get the start with some of the coaches feeling that he potentially will end up a break out player for the team.
In the backfield, the Sooners have three capable running backs led by the quick sophomore DeMarco Murray, who had 724 yards with 13 touchdowns as a freshman, with Chris Brown and Mossis Madu both expected to see action in short yardage situations.
Perhaps the best news for Bradford and the Sooner running game is the team returns all five of their starters from last year, including NFL prospects Duke Robinson at left guard and Phil Londholt at left tackle.
Going into this season, the team will need to find several replacements for several key players that moved on from last year. But finding talent to fill those spots is not a problem for the Sooners, just a matter on how quick they get acclimated.
The team lost their two leading tacklers from last season at linebacker and will look to junior Keenan Clayton and junior college transfer J.R. Bryant to step in at the outside linebacker positions, while Ryan Reynolds will make the move from outside to middle linebacker.
The defensive line should be solid with tackles Demarcus Granger and Gerald McCoy serving as anchors in the middle while Canadian native junior Auston English should be dangerous on the end after recording 9.5 sacks in a season that was cut short with an ankle injury.
The secondary will have two seniors in Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes working at safety to help out new starters Brain Jackson and Dominique Franks at the corners.
With the talent on offense and Stoops and his coaching staff knowing how to get the most out of their players, the defense should be in solid form once conference play begins.
With the bad taste the Fiesta Bowl has left on the team in recent years, there definitely should be motivation to try to run the schedule and redeem themselves in a major bowl.
As a Texas Longhorn fan, it is hard to want to acknowledge anything positive about the Sooners, and I would not be hurt if the team struggled a bit.
Objectively, however, I will say that the Sooners should be the team to beat in the conference with a legitimate shot at playing for the national title.
The Sooners have about eight potential NFL players in their starting lineup that should make match ups against them hard to account for by any other college team.
Games with Texas, Kansas and Texas Tech should serve as the biggest potential stumbling blocks, but the good news is the Jayhawks and Red Raiders will have to come to a hostile Norman to try to pull off an upset.
Prediction: 11-1 overall record with first place finish in Big 12 South.
2008 Oklahoma schedule: Aug. 30th Chattanooga, Sept. 6th Cincinnati, Sept. 13th at Washington, Sept. 27th TCU, Oct. 4th at Baylor, Oct. 11th Texas(in Dallas), Oct. 18th Kansas, Oct. 25th at Kansas St., Nov. 1st Nebraska, Nov. 8th at Texas A&M, Nov. 22nd Texas Tech, Nov. 29th at Oklahoma St. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, July 22 2008 )
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