Blanketing Oklahoma football 2018, from A to Z

In the last couple of months, we’ve reported, and editorialized some, on Oklahoma football from top to bottom, inside and out, and on and off the field. Today we take a different look at what’s in store in the 2018, from A to Z.

In a little more than 48 hours from now, the long wait for the start of another Oklahoma football season will be in the rear-view mirror, as the Sooners take the field for their season and home opener against Florida Atlantic, a team that is unranked but that Lincoln Riley said in his weekly press conference this week is a legitimate top-25 team.

The Owls are coached by Lane Kiffen, who has been offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama and before that head coach at USC and Tennessee in addition to serving as the head coach of the NFL Oakland Raiders for two seasons.

FAU was 11-3 last season and champion of Conference USA and will pose a formidable opening challenge for the reigning Big 12-champion Sooners. Howard Schnellenberger, who coached Oklahoma for one contentious season in 1995, moved on to coach at FAU for 11 seasons after getting the boot at Oklahoma.

The Owls are the first of three nonconference opponents who will travel to Norman in the opening month of the 2018 season.

Here’s a fun alphabetical walk through of what’s in store for OU football fans in the 2018 season:

A — Rodney Anderson returns as Oklahoma’s leading rusher from a year ago. His 1,079 rushing yards over the last eight games of the season were the most of any player in the country over that time span.

B — Welcome Shane Beamer, son of longtime Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer. Shane joined the OU coaching staff from Georgia in the offseason. He will coach the tight ends and H-backs and also will help oversee special teams.

C — Oklahoma’s has 47 conference championships all-time, the most of any team from a Power Five conference. That includes a Big 12-best 11 titles.

D — The OU defense has been the Achilles heel of the Sooners the past few years. Oklahoma ranked 67th in the country last season in total defense and 87th in passing yards allowed. This must change if OU hopes to capture an unprecedented fourth consecutive league crown.

E — Redshirt junior Bobby Evans is the player most likely to replace departed All-American Orlando Brown at the left tackle spot, the position entrusted with protecting the blind side of a right-handed quarterback.

F — Oklahoma led the Big 12 last season with 361 first downs, an average of 25.8 per game, but the Sooners were third from the bottom in the conference in first downs allowed to their opponents (20.4 per game).

G — Redshirt junior Neville Gallimore is one of the interior defensive lineman being counted on to step up and play well in 2018. Head coach Lincoln Riley said in his opening-week press conference that he feels real good about the Sooners D-line this season, and Gallimore is one of the reasons why.

H — Redshirt freshman Creed Humphrey is battling redshirt senior Jonathan Alvarez for the starting center position replacing the departed Erick Wren. Humphrey is a 2017 U.S. Army All-American and four-star recruit. Riley said on Monday that a decision had not been made yet on who will start against Florida Atlantic.

I — The Sooners take an early break from the nonconference schedule to open up Big 12 play in Week 3 with a road game on Sept. 15 at Iowa State. The Cyclones gave OU its only Big 12 loss in two seasons a year ago.

J — Junior Mykel Jones caught 16 passes as a wide receiver last season and is being counted on as one of OU’s primary weapons in the Air Raid passing offense. He wears jersey No. 3 is the Sooners’ third leading returning receiver.

K – Redshirt sophomore Austin Kendall has been in a close competition throughout training camp with Kyler Murray for the starting quarterback job. Kendall redshirted last season, but was the backup to Baker Mayfield in the 2016 season.

L — As a freshman last season, CeeDee Lamb caught 46 passes for 807 yards and seven touchdowns. He averaged 17.5 yards per catch. He also threw a touchdown pass to Baker Mayfield on a trick play against Georgia in last season’s College Football Playoff.

M — Oklahoma has appeared in the top five of the Associated Press college football rankings more weeks (406) than any other school since the AP rankings began in 1936.

N — Tre Norward played in all 14 games for Oklahoma as a freshman last season and started the last five games at cornerback. He was second on the team with eight pass breakups.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

O — Oklahoma led the nation last season in total offense, averaging 579.6 yards per game and should score high in that category again this season, even with the departure of Heisman-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield.

P — The Sooners led the Big 12 in time of possession last season, averaging 31 minutes, 49 seconds per game.

Q — The Sooners biggest quarter of the season a year ago was the second quarter, in which they outscored their opponents by a combined score of 196-112.

R — Oklahoma was second in the Big 12 in Red Zone offense last season, scoring 90.3 percent of the time the Sooners had possession inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Fifty-two of the 65 times the Sooners scored while in the Red Zone were touchdowns.

S – For the fourth straight season, senior Austin Seibert will handle all of the placekicking and punting duties (punting, field goals/extra points and kickoffs) for Oklahoma. He ranks first in OU history in career extra points (223), third in career scoring (361 points) and fourth in career field-goal percentage (.767).

T — The annual Red River Showdown with Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas is Oct. 6. This year’s game will be the 113th renewal of that longtime rivalry. Texas leads the all-time series 61-46-5.

U — Oklahoma plays the United States Military Academy at West Point (Army) on Sept. 22 in Norman. It will be only the third time the two schools have played each other in football. It’s been 57 years since they last played. The Sooners won the two previous games (28-0 in 1959 and 14-8 in 1961).

V — Lincoln Riley’s 12 victories last season, his first as head coach of the Sooners, were the most by an OU head coach in his first season in program history.

W — Oklahoma is tied for fourth with Alabama among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools in all-time winning percentage (884-323-53, .723). The Sooners trail only Michigan (.729), Notre Dame (.729), and Ohio State (.725).

X — The OU offense looks strong again this season, and everyone is hoping that the defense will play better, but the Sooner’s X-factor in 2018 may well be special teams and how well they are able to capitalize on the kicking and return game.

Y — The Sooner defensive backs in 2018 are the youngest position group on the team. OU is replacing three starters from last year’s College Football Playoff team. Only four of the scholarship defensive secondary players on the roster this season are seniors or juniors. Seven of the remaining nine, though, were rated as four- or five-star recruits before coming to Oklahoma.

Z — In the past 10 seasons, Oklahoma has held an opponent to zero points just five times. The Sooners have not pitched a shutout on defense, though, in the last 31 games. The last time this happened was in 2015, a 55-0 blanking at Kansas State.

*Some statistical information in this article was sourced from the 2018 OU Football Media Guide.