2018 Recap: The last two seasons have been a ride for head coach Lincoln Riley. He wins the Big-12 conference title in consecutive years, his quarterbacks both win the Heisman and were both selected with the first overall pick in their draft classes (Baker Mayfield in 17, Kyler Murray in 18) and they’ve made the playoffs in each of those years. This offense again was one of the quickest, if not the quickest in all the nation. As much as they’ve struggled on defense, more pressure was put on the offense to sustain longer drives to shoulder the load and help the defense. Their only loss came against Texas on October 6th, but two months later, they got their revenge and defeated their rivals in the conference title game. They clinched another spot in the playoffs for the second year and fell short to Alabama in the Orange Bowl.
Key Losses: QB Kyler Murray, WR Marquise Brown, OT Dru Samia, OT Ben Powers, OT Cody Ford.
2019 Outlook: The Sooners and the Texas Longhorns lead the pact as the favorites to win the conference. If I’m choosing right now, I’m picking the team that’s won the conference title four consecutive years. I like Lincoln Riley and the Sooners to claim the Big-12 once again. They’ll have no issues at quarterback. Jalen Hurts transferred and will be the guy under center. Remember him? The guy who once played for Nick Saban at Alabama? He brings experience and veteran leadership. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb returns and will be the number one receiving target with Brown gone. The Sooners also have a one-two punch in the backfield in Kennedy Brooks and Trey Sermon. This defense must improve in every tier from the front end to the secondary. Riley decided to hire Alex Grinch as the Sooners new defensive coordinator. This would be a scarier team if they were just as consistent on the defensive side of things.
