Oklahoma football: Can OU dispel enough concerns to legitimize a 2020 title run?
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football has to have a few more things go right this season than it has in the last three under Lincoln Riley to become a legitimate 2020 title contender.
Sooner fans aren’t going to like hearing that statement, but to look at it any other way would only be ignoring the obvious. And besides, the truth always speaks louder at the end of the day.
Contrary to popular belief, no college football team is perfect. Every team has its strengths and weaknesses. The teams that win conference championships and find themselves in the national title hunt seemingly every season are the ones who are best able to maximize team strengths and minimize or overcome weaknesses.
Oklahoma has been in that position for most of the past two decades under Bob Stoops and now Riley — and before that in the 1950s under Bud Wilkinson and the 1970s and ’80s under Barry Switzer.
Every season brings with it questions — some new and some a carryover from unresolved past issues — and, of course, some teams have more of these to address than others. But trust me, every team has a chink or two in its armor that is enough to give its head coach and his staff some sleepless nights.
Obviously, the teams that do the best job of minimizing the “what ifs” and addressing its question areas are going to be the ones that will be in contention for their league crown and perhaps also in national title contention.
Oklahoma has had a remarkable three-year run under head coach Lincoln Riley. The Sooners are three for three in both winning the Big 12 and in College Football Playoff appearances under Riley, which is a better than good reason not to count Oklahoma out in CFP final-four projections for the coming season.
But for the Sooners to sustain their incredible run of success under Riley it will require addressing several areas of perceived or real concern.
The areas of principal concern surrounding the Oklahoma team coming out of the spring shutdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and as preparations begin ramping up again in anticipation of a 2020 season that will start on time are:
Quarterback uncertainty
Creating more turnovers and generating offense from the defense
Who will be the next CeeDee Lamb or Hollywood Brown among the young wide receivers?
Can the Sooner defense continue to make major improvement?
Red zone defensive disaster