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Oklahoma football: Sooners land 4 spot in 2019 SI Preseason Top 25

By Chip Rouse

NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 29: The Oklahoma Sooners Sooner Schooner takes to the field after a touchdown against the Baylor Bears at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Baylor 66-33. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
NORMAN, OK - SEPTEMBER 29: The Oklahoma Sooners Sooner Schooner takes to the field after a touchdown against the Baylor Bears at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated Baylor 66-33. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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This week Sports Illustrated comes out with its annual college football preview issue. When it does, Oklahoma football will take its rightful place among the best of the best to begin the 2019 season.

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The Sports Illustrated 2019 Preseason Top 25 was revealed on Tuesday, with the Sooners commanding the No. 4 spot, matching their ranking in last week’s preseason Coaches Poll.

This is the highest Oklahoma has been ranked in the annual SI preseason rankings since 2011, when the Sooners landed the No. 2 spot behind Alabama. It also the highest OU has appeared in the SI Preseason Top 25 in the past four seasons, or since Lincoln Riley arrived in Norman as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator.

Back in January (and before Jalen Hurts announced he was transferring to Oklahoma), Sports Illustrated ranked the Sooners at No. 6 in its Way-too-Early 2019 Top 25 projections.

Unsurprisingly, Alabama and Clemson are the heavy choices as the top two teams, respectively, in the SI Preseason Top 25. Clemson is the defending national champion and No. 1 in the preseason Coaches Poll, but the editors at Sports Illustrated believe that five consecutive College Football Playoff appearances by Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide make Alabama the standard by which all others should be measured.

Georgia, at No. 3, and No. 5 Texas round out the top five in SI’s Preseason Top 25. Frankly, I was surprised to see the Longhorns ranked this high. The Horns are definitely an improving football team under head coach Tom Herman and are clearly Oklahoma’s top challenger in the Big 12 title chase this season, but I don’t see Texas at the same level as Ohio State, Notre Dame or LSU, each of which follows the Longhorns in the SI preseason rankings.

The idea that traditional college football power Texas is solid at the quarterback position, with All-Big 12 performer Sam Ehlinger, and might really be back ostensibly is fueling all the preseason hype surrounding the next coming of Longhorn football.

And the editors at SI are adding to the hype by featuring Texas’ Ehlinger on one of four different regional covers. It will mark the 15th time Texas football has been featured on a Sports Illustrated cover. That is a dozen fewer that Oklahoma, however, which is second only to Alabama (42) for the number of all-time SI cover appearances by a college team.

The remainder of the SI top 10 features the usual suspects: No. 6 Ohio State, Notre Dame, LSU, Oregon and Florida. Iowa State, at No. 23, is the only other Big 12 team ranked in SI Preseason Top 25.

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