Oklahoma football: Tracking Sooners’ 2022 preseason rankings

Dec 7, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the second half against the Baylor Bears in the 2019 Big 12 Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2019; Arlington, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the second half against the Baylor Bears in the 2019 Big 12 Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma football never really leaves the news, it just recycles through it depending on the time of year.

Immediately after the College Football Playoff championship game, we immediately begin seeing “way-too-early” forecasts for the next season as well as the second wave of national recruiting signings. Come March, there is spring practice, capped off with the annual spring game. After that, all the attention turns to the annual NFL player draft.

When you get right down to it, though, the heart and lifeblood of college football rests in the recruiting cycle, which is a continual process that doesn’t really have an offseason.

We’re now at the time on the calendar, however, when there isn’t much college football news to report, but that’s also when pundits and sports talk show hosts begin filling the void with conference projections, Heisman and national award candidates and, of course, national top-25 lists.

In the coming weeks, all leading up to the official kickoff of the 2022 college football season we will start seeing a flood of preseason top-25 rankings. We will track that process, specifically as it relates to Oklahoma’s positioning and other Big 12 teams, as the preseason rankings come out in the various preview publications, in social media and from other national news sources.

Here is the start of that 2022 tracking process:

Athlon Sports

1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia, 4. Clemson, 11. Baylor, 13. Oklahoma, 17. Oklahoma State

CBS Sports

1. Georgia, 2, Alabama, 3, Michigan, 4. Cincinnati, 5. Baylor, 7. Oklahoma State, 10. Oklahoma

Lindy’s Sports

1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia, 4. Clemson, 9. Oklahoma State, 10, Oklahoma, 12. Baylor, 25. Texas

Phil Steele Preseason Top 10

1. Alabama, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia, 4. Clemson, 8. Oklahoma

More to come…