Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma Football: Five Big 12 Players Who Will Strike Fear in Sooners in 2017

By Chip Rouse

Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys wide receiver James Washington (28) against the Oklahoma Sooners at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys wide receiver James Washington (28) against the Oklahoma Sooners at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next

Winning conference championships in college football is not as easy as it might seem. Oklahoma football has won 10 of them under Bob Stoops in the Big 12 era, three times more than the next closest team in the conference.

Unlike basketball, where you can lose up to four games to conference opponents in some years and still run away with a league championship, with half the number of conference games in a football schedule, even one loss can doom a team’s chances of winning a conference crown outright.

Every single game takes on high importance, regardless of the opponent’s record.

With a tradition and historical success record like Oklahoma Sooner football has enjoyed for pretty much the entire last half-century, the Sooners can always expect to get an opponent’s best shot each and every time out. No matter if OU is doing well that season or not. That’s just the way it is.

Any team in the Big 12 is capable of beating any conference team on any given Saturday. Even lowly Kansas is capable of rising up and playing spoiler. Just ask Texas and former Longhorns’ head coach Charlie Strong, who found themselves on the short end of one of college football’s biggest upsets last season.

OU will enter the 22nd season of Big 12 play with a 10-game winning streak overall and 16 consecutive conference wins. The Sooners last Big 12 loss came against archrival Texas in the annual Red River Showdown in 2015.

The Sooners have gone undefeated in the conference three times (2000, 2003 and 2004) since the Big 12 was formed in 1996 and suffered just one loss in three other seasons (2008, 2012 and 2015).

It’s one thing to predict the outcomes of the games on the 2017 OU football schedule, but who are the opposing players likely to give the Sooners the most trouble in the coming season and are capable of single handedly shooting holes in OU championship hopes in 2017.

We’ve identified five Big 12 players whom the Sooners should be particularly concerned about in the coming season.

Home/OU Football