Oklahoma football: Sooners will win Big 12 again, without Baker Mayfield

There is reason to believe that the Oklahoma football offense will take a step back in 2018 from what it was with Baker Mayfield at quarterback.

That is certainly a reasonable assumption. Quarterbacks with the skills, incredible efficiency and gamesmanship of Mayfield are exceptions to the rule. And teams with the best player on the field, which Oklahoma most always was with Mayfield, generally come out on top, which the Sooners did in 34 of 40 games during Mayfield’s time at OU.

Mayfield has moved on to bigger and better things, much to the delight of the other teams in the Big 12, who have been chasing Oklahoma and looking up to the Sooners in the standings for the past three seasons. So what does that mean this coming season for the team that lead the nation in total offense in 2017?

Sorry about this, Big 12 fans of all the other teams, all it means is that the Oklahoma offense will be different, but no less potent and still capable of putting up plenty of points.

Kyler Murray — yes, one in the same who was the ninth overall player taken in the recent Major League Baseball Draft, the top pick of the Oakland Athletics — appears at this early stage to be the front runner to move into the starting quarterback role for Oklahoma this fall. Murray, who like Mayfield transferred in to OU from another school, is more of a dual-threat quarterback, something Sooner fans have not seen at the QB spot since the early days of Jason White.

Mayfield also had the ability to run with the football when the passing lanes closed up, but he was a much more dangerous threat throwing the football and picking up big gains on broken plays. Murray is fleet of foot and a bigger threat running with the ball, but has also shown that he can throw it as well, although not with the same strength or precision as his predecessor.

The Sooners may not have the best quarterback in the conference any longer, but both Murray and sophomore Austin Kendall, who head coach Lincoln Riley has not ruled out as the Sooner starter, would be ranted among the top-four QBs in the Big 12 coming into the 2018 season. And the advantage the Sooner lose at quarterback, they more than make up for with arguably the best running-back stable and one of the best offensive lines and wide receiver arsenals, not just in the Big 12 but nationally.

For sure, the Sooners won’t experience much of a drop-off on the offensive end. Oklahoma also has an added advantage when it comes to offensive schemes and play-calling by having one of the brightest, young offensive minds in the college game on the sidelines in coach Riley.

Texas may be the one team that can give Oklahoma all kinds of fits on offense. The Longhorns have arguably the best defensive unit, front to back, in the Big 12 coming into the new season.

That’s why the Longhorns stack up as the Sooners’ biggest challenge in 2018, at least in the eyes of this OU fan and observer.

The outcome of the Red River rivalry game this year won’t be determined so much by the team that puts the most points on the scoreboard, but rather by the team that gives up the fewest points. The team that plays the better defense when these two longtime rivals go to battle on Oct. 6 is a very good bet to come out the winner and have a leg up in the Big 12 championship race.

All of this to say that if Oklahoma is to win a fourth consecutive Big 12 crown in 2018, the defense must be much better than it was a year ago. That means the Sooners have to be able to stop the run and prevent big pass plays on the back end.

Upgrading the defense has been a major offseason focus. The makeup of the top-10-ranked 2018 recruiting class (13 of the 22-member class are defensive players) reflects that emphasis, and the Sooners appear to have the returning personnel, along with the newcomers, to get things turned around defensively.

The bottom line: Despite the major loss at quarterback and the ongoing defensive concerns, Oklahoma remains a top-10 team nationally and will continue to wear the Big 12 crown until another conference team takes it away.

Texas, West Virginia and TCU appear to be the Sooners’ biggest challengers in 2018, and OU must go to West Virginia and TCU this season. It won’t be easy, and Oklahoma could easily drop a couple of games in conference play in 2018.

Next: What will be the Sooners' most important game in 2018?

When the dust finally settles, however, and the calendar changes to December and Championship Saturday in college football, Oklahoma will be the team celebrating at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in what could be a redemption win in a Red River Showdown rematch.