Oklahoma football: Examining the makeup of the 2018 Sooners

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 15: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the Kansas State Wildcats October 15, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Kansas State 38-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** local caption ***
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 15: The Oklahoma Sooners take the field before the game against the Kansas State Wildcats October 15, 2016 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Kansas State 38-17. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** local caption ***
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PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Marquise Brown #5 of the Oklahoma Sooners and CeeDee Lamb #9 of the Oklahoma Sooners react in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 01: Marquise Brown #5 of the Oklahoma Sooners and CeeDee Lamb #9 of the Oklahoma Sooners react in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

It’s hard to believe, but it’s a little less than two months until the start of the 2018 edition of Oklahoma football. 

After ending 2017 (and actually beginning 2018) with a deflating — albeit incredibly thrilling — loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in one of the College Football Playoff semifinals, it’s time for the Sooner Nation to start looking ahead.

Over the next week or so, we will examine the three primary units (offense, defense and special teams) that constitute the 2018 edition of Sooner football  and what OU fans have to look forward to in Year 2 of the Lincoln Riley coaching era. By the time we are through, Sooner fans will have a greater appreciation of why, on the subject of Oklahoma football, the whole is usually always greater than the sum of the parts.

We start our examination with the unit that underpinned the Sooners’ success in 2017: the offense. Even though that stellar unit (No. 1 in the country a year ago) suffered some key losses (one in particular goes by the name Mayfield), there’s enough firepower left in the tank for the Sooners to reasonably expect similar success in 2018.