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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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STILLWATER, OK – NOVEMBER 04: Running back Justice Hill #5 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys breaks away for a touchdown against the Oklahoma Sooners at Boone Pickens Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Oklahoma State 62-52. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK – NOVEMBER 04: Running back Justice Hill #5 of the Oklahoma State Cowboys breaks away for a touchdown against the Oklahoma Sooners at Boone Pickens Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Oklahoma State 62-52. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /

No. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-4, 6-3)

The Cowboys begin the 2018 campaign without arguably the most dynamic pass-catch duo in school history in QB Mason Rudolph and WR James Washington. Oklahoma State remains stacked at the wide receiver position, but replacing the huge numbers put up by Rudolph, one of the country’s best quarterbacks last season, will be an enormous undertaking.

With the Big 12 rushing leader, Justice Hill, back for his junior season, Oklahoma State should be able to generate a balanced offensive attack. One national college football preview publication described the Cowboys’ quarterback dilemma this way: “The Cowboys may have four (quarterback candidates), but they don’t have a No. 1.”

The Cowboys are expected to have some solid defenders up front, but problems start to arise the farther back you go in the defensive unit. Oklahoma finished fifth in the Big 12 in total defense last season and seventh in pass defense. Don’t expect much, if any, improvement in that standing this time around.

Bottom line: The Cowboys should finish somewhere around the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in 2018.

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