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Oklahoma football: How does the Big 12 stack up behind OU in 2018?

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Oklahoma Sooners fans cheer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Oklahoma Sooners fans cheer during the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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DALLAS, TX – OCTOBER 14: Jerrod Heard #13 of the Texas Longhorns gets a reception broken up by Emmanuel Beal #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners in a football game at Cotton Bowl on October 14, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Richard W. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX – OCTOBER 14: Jerrod Heard #13 of the Texas Longhorns gets a reception broken up by Emmanuel Beal #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners in a football game at Cotton Bowl on October 14, 2017 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Richard W. Rodriguez/Getty Images) /

No. 2 Texas Longhorns (9-3, 7-2)

This season, the second under head coach Tom Herman, could be the long-awaited return of Texas football to the upper echelon of the Big 12 Conference.

When your biggest 2018 concern might be replacing your punter (Michael Dickson, the 2017 Ray Guy Award winner), you know you are on a pretty good track.

The Longhorns have seven returning starters both on offense and defense.  Their 7-6 overall record in 2017 was their first winning season in four years, and helped re-establish a confidence factor that has been missing ever since Mack Brown’s final years as head coach at Texas.

Moreover, five of Texas six losses last season were by 10 or fewer points.

This will be sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger’s second season in Herman’s offense, which should make a big difference. The Texas defense, which was one of the best in the Big 12 a year ago, should remain in top form again this season. The offense, however, which ranked seventh in the conference in 2017 in total offense, rushing offense and passing offense, needs to be better, and it should show marked improvement this season.

The Longhorns are extremely talented. Despite their up and down season in 2017, Herman was able to reel in a top-five recruiting class rich in talent, including seven of the Lone Star State’s top-10 recruits, it was reported in Athlon Sports’ Big 12 College Preview issue, according to 247Sports.

Texas has one of the most difficult nonconference schedules in college football this season. The Horns begin the season on the road at Maryland (which beat Texas in Austin to begin the 2017 season), followed by home games with Tulsa and top-25-ranked USC. They have TCU and Kansas State before the Red River Showdown with Oklahoma.

Success against TCU and K-State, followed by a huge rivalry win over the Sooners, could well send Texas on its way to the Big 12 Championship game, where the Longhorns are likely to see Oklahoma a second time in a Red River rematch at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 1.

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