By RJ Younger
FOX Sports activities Faculty Soccer Author
Has Oklahoma been Clemson'd?
Clemson is who Oklahoma ought to have been for the previous decade. Whereas the Sooners have merely proven CFP promise, Dabo Swinney's Tigers have really overwhelmed the perfect groups the SEC has to supply and received nationwide championships.
Including insult to damage, Clemson managed to win two nationwide titles with a defensive coordinator who'd spent the earlier 13 years teaching at Oklahoma. Now that defensive coordinator, Brent Venables, is again in Norman as head coach, and he has introduced all that he has realized from Swinney's program with him.
After the very public and, at instances, messy break up between Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma, Venables is utilizing benefits and assets to fill out his program in his picture, recruiting at a excessive degree and pushing towards returning OU to the highest of the convention and doubtlessly successful its first nationwide title since 2000 — or so I feel.
We'll know for certain in three months' time.
Prime Huge 12 Storylines
RJ Younger breaks down how the Oklahoma Sooners will appear like the Clemson Tigers beneath Brent Venables and ranks his different prime Huge 12 storylines.
You'll be able to watch the "The No. 1 Ranked Present with RJ Younger" on YouTube or subscribe on podcast platforms, together with Apple Podcasts.
Listed below are the opposite prime storylines within the Huge 12.
Can Baylor and Oklahoma State do it once more?
They shocked us all final season, not by making the Huge 12 Convention Championship, however by boxing Oklahoma out. The Bears and Cowboys managed to knock off the Sooners for the primary time since 2014 — a yr through which the Sooners completed 8-5 — and did so with excellent defenses.
What stays to be seen is whether or not this can be a momentary blip for the Sooners, just like the 2014 season, or an honest-to-goodness altering of the guard inside a altering Huge 12. The Bears and Pokes, respectively, return quarterbacks who received the Huge 12 title (Blake Shapen) and beat Notre Dame within the Fiesta Bowl (Spencer Sanders).
The defending Huge 12 champion Bears even have the posh of returning each coordinators whereas OSU coach Mike Gundy employed Derek Mason to guide his protection after Jim Knowles accepted the defensive coordinator job at Ohio State.
Gundy has confirmed he can construct winners at OSU, and Dave Aranda has proven he can flip round a program in a brief period of time — going from two wins to 12 in a single yr. I do not assume each will find yourself within the Huge 12 title recreation this yr, however it should not shock anybody in the event that they do.
Who brings up the rear?
I do not assume it is gonna be Kansas. The truth is, I feel the Jayhawks are gonna be an issue for the Huge 12 in 2022.
We noticed what Lance Leipold's program was able to when KU traveled to Austin and acquired its first win in opposition to the Longhorns on the Forty Acres — ever. It was the Jayhawks' first Huge 12 highway win since 2008. And that was solely 12 months 1.
Predicting Huge 12 win totals
RJ Younger predicts which Huge 12 groups will exceed their preseason win totals, in line with FOX Wager, and which groups will fall quick.
Since that win, the Jayhawks have added 14 gamers out of the switch portal, together with former Ohio State linebacker Craig Younger, Minnesota operating again Ky Thomas and top-of-the-line prep operating backs out of Oklahoma in latest reminiscence in Nebraska switch Sevion Morrison.
The measuring stick for the Jayhawks is to win three convention video games. However they give the impression of being and sound like a group that can go bowling in 4 months' time.
I can not recall the final time I felt the Huge 12 was this tight from prime to backside.
Who's the perfect QB within the league?
Maybe it is sufficient to easily acknowledge that OU — with two Heisman winners at QB over the previous 5 years — may have competitors on that entrance, and that hasn't been true for a while.
Usually, I might take whoever OU fields because the beginning quarterback in opposition to the sphere to reply this query. However that is the primary time since 2015 that Riley hasn't been the individual choosing and growing the QB at Oklahoma.
None of that is say that OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and quarterback Dillon Gabriel cannot kind up like Voltron to be a dynamic duo. It's to say — in my most Monique voice — I want to see it.
To call three extra tandems I feel might show to be the category of the Huge 12, there are additionally the pairings of Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and Quinn Ewers, Shapen and Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and Sanders and offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn.
Is Texas lastly again, or is Texas simply Ferrari?
In System 1, no race group has extra followers throughout this nervous little planet of ours than Ferrari. For almost a century, the Scuderia has been synonymous with the game, however it's been greater than a decade since Ferrari received a world championship.
Which Huge 12 group can compete for for the title?
RJ Younger explains why just one group out of Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and Baylor will realistically compete for the Faculty Soccer Playoff. RJ additionally predicts which group will win the Huge 12 title recreation.
Equally, it has been greater than a decade since Texas final performed in a nationwide title recreation. And, like Ferrari, that decade has been crammed with common and abysmal seasons.
The Longhorns are one of many richest packages within the sport and don't lack any variety of high quality gamers who wish to put on the burnt orange. It is merely a matter of placing these items collectively in a fashion that results in successful championships.
With Sarkisian headed into 12 months 2 after a humbling 12 months 1, the Longhorns have an opportunity to achieve their potential but once more, starting with their Sept. 10 showdown in opposition to Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide.
RJ Younger is a nationwide faculty soccer author and analyst for FOX Sports activities and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Observe him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He's not on a StepMill.
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