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Oklahoma football: Sooners’ 7th in ESPN college football SP+ rankings for 2022

By Chip Rouse

Oct 24, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Marvin Mims (17) scores a touchdown during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Marvin Mims (17) scores a touchdown during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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If you go purely by the way-too-early projections for the 2022 season, you would be hard pressed to think it was anything but business as usual in the Oklahoma football program.

Yes, there has been a head-coaching change, the addition of a half-dozen new assistants and nearly 20 percent of the roster for next season is made up of newcomers (transfers and incoming 2022 recruits).

And yes, the early projections have Oklahoma down somewhat from their historically typical top-10 placement. ESPN, Sports Illustrated and The Athletic all had the Sooners no higher than No, 15 in their way-too-early college football projections for next season. USA Today and CBS Sports see things a bit differently than the other media outlets, however. USA Today projects OU as the 7th best team heading into next season, and CBS has an even higher view, placing the Sooners in the No. 4 spot.

It’s fair to say that things have stabilized considerably at Oklahoma since Venables’ hiring and that was reflected again this week in the ESPN SP+ preseason projections for the next college football season. Oklahoma is ranked 7th in the latest ESPN analysis.

Related Story. CBS Sports has different take on OU's projection for 2022. light

ESPN staff writer Bill Connelly describes the SP+ assessment model as a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. Importantly, he says, it’s intended to be predictive and forward facing.

The SP+ measure is based on three primary criteria: returning production, recent recruiting and recent history. Oklahoma loses a lot of production on both sides of the ball but bringing in an 8th-ranked recruiting class and recent history ostensibly were enough to lift the Sooners in ESPN’s still-too-early, but revised 2022 college football projections.

The ESPN SP+ metric following last season’s New Year’s Six bowl games, for example, had Oklahoma No. 13 looking ahead to next season. The top five teams at that time were Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan and Cincinnati.

A month later, the top-five ranking has changed to Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan and Clemson.

This is just one of many ranking mechanisms designed to trigger a continuing offseason debate on who will be the top teams when it comes time in September to kick off the next college football season.

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