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Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) and quarterback Jackson Arnold (10) warm up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Oklahoma Sooners have nearly made it through a long offseason. Just about three weeks remain until football season is back at OU.
Nationally, Oklahoma is thought to be a somewhat middle-of-the-road team in their first season in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. The Sooners were picked eighth in the preseason SEC media poll and outside of the top 16 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
One of FOX Sports’ leading college football experts, Joel Klatt, has the Sooners a bit higher in his preseason rankings. On his show, “The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast,” he revealed his Top 25 teams heading into the season.
Klatt has the Sooners ranked No. 15 overall (surprisingly, one spot behind USC) and sixth in the SEC. That’s a bit more of a favorable draw than what OU has been getting nationally and in the conference.
But Klatt gave some interesting reasons for why he has Oklahoma where he does, beginning with the defense.
Defense Ready to shine
“I really love OU, so why are they 15th? Well let’s go through it,” Klatt said. “[autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] now entering Year 3 had nice jump last year with 10 wins. Going to the SEC, the defense has veteran talent. I think that the defense can be better and they need to be better. They gave up far too many big plays a year ago. They’ve got [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] in the back end, they’ve got [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] who comes back, they need to keep improving.”
Oklahoma’s continued defensive improvement will be paramount if the Sooners want to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/takeaways-joel-klatts-oklahoma-sooners-222027001.html
Author : Sooners Wire
Publish date : 2024-08-08 22:20:27
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