Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
Expectations is everything in college football. As we said in the Kansas college football preview 6-6 was great for them and their future. At Oklahoma 6-6 will never, ever be tolerated. This was a dreadful year in Norman Oklahoma. They are a playoff or bust type program every year. I mean look at their losses. The Texas game is what it is, it is a rival and that is not a bad loss. But the Sooners lost to the last place West Virginia team. They should never lose to Texas Tech or Baylor and they did. Losing to Kansas State and TCU isn’t as bad last year with those 2 being the top of the conference. At Oklahoma though, they are the top of the conference and quite frankly it was embarrassing watching them look so damn mediocre. The only win that was worth anything is beating in state rival Oklahoma State in the Bedlam game. Lets just call it how it was, Oklahoma last year was just fucking bad and it shouldn’t happen to this program ever.
Head Coach:
It was a less the stellar first year as the Sooners head coach for Brent Venables. His return to Norman after a decade at Clemson as a Defensive Coordinator could have been a lot better. Venables is a top 5 Defensive mind in college football. He help Coach Dabo Sweeney and Clemson win 2 National Championships vs. great offenses. Venables even has hardware as a Defensive Coordinator winning the Broyles award in 2016. The defense needs to get better, it is unacceptable that a Venables defense was 99th in the country in points allowed. Coach Venables needs to turn this around quick because of those high expectations. The Sooner fans love their team and are not a patient bunch. If there isn’t a dramatic turn around this year, Venables will be on the hot seat in only his second season.
Key Players:
The tone of this college football preview has been a bit negative. Time to hit some positive notes on the upcoming year for the Sooners. QB Dillion Gabriel is back for his last year in Norman. Last year one of the few positives on the team, Gabriel threw for 3,168 with a 62.7% completion percentage. He was very efficient and had 25 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. RB Eric Gray and his almost 1,400 yards on the ground are gone. Filling that void will be his backup from last year Jovantae Barnes who had 519 yards and 5 touchdowns. Replacing leading receiver Marvin Mims will be a challenge. Jalil Farooq will be the number one target this year coming off of his 37 catch, 466 yard, 5 touchdown sophomore year. Drake Stoops will be Farooq’s main running mate, as a junior last year Stoops had 39 catches for just under 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. The top 5 leading tacklers from last year will not be back. That might be a good thing as the defense was terrible anyways. Remember the name Ethan Downs, he had 38 tackles, 13.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks as a sophomore last year at his DE spot. I expect huge things from him this year. Jordan Kelly and Billy Bowman will flash for the Sooners Defense as well.
2023 Prediction:
Oklahoma has a relatively easy non-conference schedule, playing Tulsa, SMU and Arkansas State. I fully expect them to go 3-0 in those games easily. They have the one neutral game vs. Texas which is a toss up. Their road conference games are Cincy, Kansas, Oklahoma State and BYU. I think that might be the easiest Big 12 road schedule for any team. I am expecting 4-0 in road games, I guess 3-1 just because it is college football and weird shit happens. The Sooners home conference games are Iowa State, West Virginia, UCF, and TCU. Wow I am looking at the home games they are all very winnable, I expect 4-0. Putting all this together. I think the ceiling is 12-0 if they can beat Texas and the floor is 10-2, they have such an easy schedule. Anything less then 10 wins in the regular season should be considered a bad year. They don’t play Baylor or Kansas State, I might take the Sooners to win the Big 12.
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