The Oklahoma Sooners have been official members of the SEC for two weeks now, but the process of getting “SEC-ready” began when Brent Venables was hired as the head coach in December 2021. Venables arrived in Norman less than six months after news of the SEC move leaked.
The program had two and a half years to get ready for the toughest conference in college football, and now we’re a few short weeks away from the beginning of the 2024 season, OU’s first in the SEC.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports updated his SEC power rankings ahead of SEC media days this week. He also included where each team ranked in his eyes pre-spring.
Crawford made sure to note how strong the league is, pointing to updated league-wide power rankings and the chance that more than half of the SEC will be ranked inside various preseason polls next month, a new record for a conference now strengthened by the additions of the Sooners and the Texas Longhorns.
Crawford dropped the Sooners to ninth in his preseason SEC rankings, one spot below his pre-spring ranking. He flipped Oklahoma and the Texas A&M Aggies on his list. Here’s what he had to say about the Sooners with six weeks to go until kickoff:
“This is not a ranking indicative of how we’re projecting teams will finish in 2024, but is more of a look at rosters approaching fall camp and which programs would win head-to-head matchups with each other if games were played next week. These power rankings could look very different by the end of September,” Crawford said. “The first of the SEC’s newcomers this fall, Oklahoma hasn’t received the same heightened level of preseason love as their cohorts from Texas. Part of that is based on the Sooners’ loaded schedule with a first-year starting quarterback in Jackson Arnold who will see his share of bullets early. A few portal acquisitions will be immediate starters and the back seven for the Sooners is one of the league’s best with linebacker Danny Stutsman returning, cornerback Gentry Williams and hard-hitting safety Billy Bowman.”
Crawford certainly isn’t the first to praise OU’s back seven or have doubts about the offensive line protecting the new starter in Arnold. Ultimately, the schedule could be one of the keys to the entire season. If Brent Venables’ and Zac Alley’s defense can lead the way early on while Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line gets settled, it could pay major dividends later on in the year.
September and October games against Tennessee, Texas and Ole Miss loom large, interspersed with interesting contests against Auburn and South Carolina.
Arnold’s inexperience is real, but so is his ability and upside. He has the makeup and tools to be Oklahoma’s next great QB under center.
A good start by Stutsman, Bowman and the rest of the defense would take the pressure off of Arnold and his new offensive coordinators Seth Littrell and Joe Jon Finley.
The end of the schedule is brutal with games against Missouri in Columbia, Alabama in Norman and LSU in Baton Rouge, but if the Sooners are in a solid place record, team and program-wise by then, they’ll afford themselves a little wiggle room with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
Starting fast will be the key for Oklahoma, and playing complementary football will certainly pay off if the Sooners can finish strong. If things fall into place and the inexperienced parts of the roster grow up quickly, the Sooners could finish a lot better than ninth in the SEC in 2024.
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