2011 NCAA College Football Odds: Oklahoma Sooners Preview
Saturday, August 20, 2011
by Aengus Moorehead
2010 Season
Overall: 12-2
Vs Big 12 South: 4-1
Vs Top 25: 4-1
The football challenges of an upcoming season are always substantial – no season is an easy stroll to the national title. After all, the 2003 Oklahoma Sooners made their first 12 games look easy… and then got smoked twice in the weeks after being prematurely anointed as one of the best teams of all time.
Yet, with that having been said, the on-field difficulties faced by the Sooners this year are nothing compared to what they’ve had to face away from the gridiron.
First of all, linebacker Austin Box died in the offseason, plunging the Sooners into grief that will last into the season and constantly remind the team of a lingering absence, a large void that a bunch of young men shouldn’t have to face… but must. Forget Box’s value as a player; his presence as a person is going to be the truest and deepest void in the OU locker room. The Oklahoma Sooners will have to hold the memory of their fallen teammate in a very delicate manner.
Second, OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables – who was already grieving over the loss of Box – then had to confront the abrupt death of his brother a short time later. Then, not too long after that awful piece of news ripped through Norman, Venables and head coach Bob Stoops found out that one of their former players, safety Brandon Everage, drowned on a boating excursion. Everage was a member of Stoops’s 2000 national championship team at Oklahoma, making his loss personally and profoundly felt throughout the program. It’s been a truly awful offseason for this community, and while it puts football in its proper place, it’s undeniable that the Sooners’ mental makeup will have more than a little to do with their performance level this season.
They need to carry their off-field losses with great internal strength so that any on-field losses won’t weigh them down. However, if OU does allow heartbreak to affect its performance, that’s anything but a negative commentary on the Sooners. It would actually show that their minds and hearts are focused on the right things. This is all a long way of saying that the mental side of competition is especially paramount for OU this season.
Now, to the comparatively trifling subject of football: Stoops may very well have his best team in 2011. With the unexpected return of Ryan Broyles to Norman, the Sooners bring back nine offensive starters. The key cog to the Oklahoma offensive attack is quarterback Landry Jones. The junior lay together a terrific sophomore campaign, putting up numbers than matched Sam Bradford’s Heisman season. In 2011, Jones will need to take the next step in his development. If he can improve on making timely passes in key situations and not lock onto one half of the field (which he’s done a lot in his first two seasons), there is no question he could become a major player in the Heisman race.
Four of five offensive linemen return for Oklahoma as well. The Sooners have four of the past five Big 12 championships and no one would be surprised if they turned that statistic into an even more glittering five of six. After winning the Fiesta Bowl last season, Oklahoma is primed and ready to get back to the BCS national championship race; it’s been a non-factor the last two years. The bitter taste of its 2009 defeat in the title game at the hands of Florida remains fresh in the minds of Sooners everywhere.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Sooners return eight starters. All-Big 12 selections Travis Lewis and Jamell Fleming will be key players for OU once again. The Sooners, per usual, will play their aggressive style of defense under Venables. With the emergence of some key players in the secondary during the spring, they may find the ability to ring up big numbers in terms of turnover margins.
A monstrous non-conference matchup in Tallahassee against Florida State will match two sure-fire top 10 teams in the third week of the season. The Sooners have a bye before their contest with the Seminoles, giving them a crucial degree of added leverage heading into that five-star throwdown.
The Oklahoma Sooners open with in-state rival Tulsa in week one. Missouri in week three will be an important barometer come Big 12 time. The Tigers will be tough in Colombia. The last time the Sooners traveled there, as the top-ranked team in the country, they left with a rather decisive loss. The Sooners get Texas A&M at home this season and will travel to Stillwater to face rival Oklahoma State on the final weekend of the season.
Bodog Sportsbook Odds to win the 2011-2012 BCS National Championship: 9/2
Oklahoma Sooners 2011 - 2012 Schedules
| DATE | OPPONENT |
| 09/03/2011 | vs Tulsa |
| 09/17/2011 | at Florida State |
| 09/24/2011 | vs Missouri |
| 10/01/2011 | vs Ball State |
| 10/08/2011 | at Texas |
| 10/15/2011 | at Kansas |
| 10/22/2011 | vs Texas Tech |
| 10/29/2011 | at Kansas State |
| 11/05/2011 | vs Texas A&M |
| 11/19/2011 | at Baylor |
| 11/26/2011 | vs Iowa State |
| 12/03/2011 | at Oklahoma State |
Related Articles
- No 7 - Oklahoma Sooners 2010 Preview
- NCAA College Football Betting Odds: 2011 Oklahoma Sooners Odds
- NCAA Football Odds: Tulsa Golden Hurricanes vs No 1 Oklahoma Sooners
- NCAA Football Odds: Futures for 2012 College Football Season
- Insight Bowl Odds and Prediction: Iowa Hawkeyes vs Oklahoma Sooners
Category
Tags
austin box - bcs national championship - bob stoops - brandon everage - brent venables - jamell fleming - landry jones - oklahoma sooners - ryan broyles - sam bradford
