Oklahoma football: Sooners rank No. 4 in first ESPN power poll
Oklahoma football continues to gain hype ahead of the 2019 season.
ESPN gave a vote of confidence for Oklahoma football to return to the College Football Playoff in 2019, ranking the Sooners No. 4 in their first power poll.
The Sooners rank behind defending national champion Clemson, Alabama and Georgia – all teams that have defeated Oklahoma in a College Football Playoff semifinal over the past four years.
The Sooners are hoping to keep an unprecedented run of back-to-back Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks going with Jalen Hurts joining the team from the transfer portal, but ESPN was particularly bullish on new Oklahoma football defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, believing he could be a game changer for a team that may well have at least one national title in its trophy case with an improved defense over the past few years.
ESPN said:
“Grinch might become the more significant addition, though, if he can improve one of the nation’s worst defenses. Although Grinch is a strong tactician who understands how to complement an Air Raid offense, his impact on the defense’s psychology has been most significant.”
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Ohio State, Michigan, LSU, Notre Dame, Florida and Texas all round out the rest of the top ten.
The Longhorns continue to gain traction with experts going into the year and there’s a chance the Red River Showdown could feature a top 10 matchup for the first time in 11 years.
The rest of the top 25 featured Oregon, Texas A&M, Utah, Washington, Penn State, UCF, Iowa, Nebraska, Stanford, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Army, Michigan State and Iowa State giving the Big 12 just two teams in the rankings.
The Sooners seem to have a great potential path to the playoffs playing just two teams from the ESPN top 25 in 2019 with the Texas game taking place at a neutral field and the Iowa State contest being played in the friendly confines of Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norman.