ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit Not Sure Sooners Will Live up to 2016 Expectations
By Chip Rouse
Through thick and thin, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has been a strong supporter of Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Maybe it’s because both Stoops and Herbstreit have Ohio roots, who knows? But during Stoops time at Oklahoma, it seems Herbstreit has fairly regularly been on the Sooners side. When his colleagues on ESPN’s “College GameDay” program were picking against the Sooners, Herbstreit generally took the contrarian view and sided with OU to prevail.
Last season, for example, when Oklahoma began the season ranked 19th in the nation in the Associated Press media poll, Herbstreit had the Sooners as one of the four teams he projected to be in the College Football Playoff at the end of the season. And that wasn’t the first time he had been bullish about Oklahoma’s place in the national championship picture during a season.
This season, however, when everyone else on the planet seems to think Oklahoma will be right there at the end, Herbstreit has taken a step back and has some reservations about the Sooners living up to the high expectations that the media have almost universally put out there in bright lights for everyone to see.
Are you picking Oklahoma to return to the College Playoff? Oklahoma City Oklahoman staff writer Mel Bracht asked of Herbstreit: “I did a year ago,” the popular ESPN college football expert replied. “I’m looking in the Big 12 at TCU. I think (they) could be the team to beat in the Big 12.”
Everybody knows about the talented backfield Oklahoma has with Baker Mayfield, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, Herbstreit said.
“The questions are,” he said: “Where will they be with the offensive line? Who is going to step up and take over for Sterling Shepard?
“They (Oklahoma) lost a lot of not just playmakers but leaders on the defensive side (Dominique Alexander, Eric Striker, Charles Tapper and Zack Sanchez). They lost kind of the heart and soul of that side of the ball. I think they will be really good on the back end, but I’m anxious to see their front seven and how they will develop.”
While ESPN’s Herbstreit has some questions about the Sooners this season, Rick Neuheisal, who has a similar job for CBS Sports, likes what he saw after attending one of Oklahoma’s preseason training camp practices recently.
Here is what Neuheisal had to say about the Sooners in interview with The Oklahoman:
About the concern some have of the OU wide receivers following the departure of Sterling Shepard: “They have a host of guys who really look the part, some really tall fellows that I think are going to be big-time playmakers.
About the holes on the defensive side of the ball: “They lost some big-time names from their defense a year ago, mainly their big leader in Eric Striker. But I liked what I saw. It’s the one practice that I got to this year where I got to sit like an old ball coach and watch everybody, and I’d recruit that team over and over again.
If you are a Sooner fan, you’ll like Neuheisal’s projection on who he like to make the College Football Playoff this season. “I like Alabama out of the SEC,” he says. “I think Ohio State comes out of the Big Ten. I think Oklahoma comes out of the Big 12. And I think the final team will be Clemson.