Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: How Big 12 race will shake out in 2022

By Chip Rouse

Oct 23, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; A general view of the Big 12 Conference logo on the field after the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oklahoma Sooners at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; A general view of the Big 12 Conference logo on the field after the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oklahoma Sooners at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /
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NORMAN, OK – APRIL 23: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners runs his team’s pre-game plays during their spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on April 23, 2022 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK – APRIL 23: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners runs his team’s pre-game plays during their spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on April 23, 2022 in Norman, Oklahoma. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

No. 1 — Oklahoma Sooners (11-1 overall, 8-1 in Big 12)

It’s a new era in Oklahoma football, but with an old familiar face at the head of the program. Brent Venables is back after a decade-long hiatus in Clemson, South Carolina. Venables spent 13 seasons under Bob Stoops as defensive coordinator, and he returns with the same energy and passion for Sooner football he had when he left the program back in 2011.

The Sooners lost some top talent from last year’s squad, including two of the most prized quarterbacks in college football.

The Sooners reached into the transfer portal to bring in veteran starting QB Dillon Gabriel, who threw for more than 8,000 yards and 70 touchdowns in a couple of seasons at UCF. And Gabriel will be working in an offensive system he is familiar and comfortable with. He worked under the same system at UCF, where new OU offensive coordinator Jeffy Lebby was in the same role.

The Sooners will surround Gabriel with plenty of offensive weapons. OU took some hits in the receiving corps, but the Sooners are deep at that position, so there should be little drop-off in the passing attack. A solid group of running backs return. led by senior Eric Gray and a pair of especially talent freshman, Jovante Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk.

Look for the Sooner defense, led by senior linebacker DaShaun White to make a turn in the right direction under Venables and new defensive coordinator Ted Roof. OU will have a lot of new faces on defense, but the transfer portal has brought in players with considerable defensive game experience, particularly at the back end, where the Sooners have been most vulnerable in recent seasons.

The schedule sets up perfectly for Oklahoma in the 2022 season with games against Baylor and Oklahoma State taking place in Norman, where the Sooners are 39-3 over the last seven seasons. The Sooners will stumble against Texas (interestingly, this will be the first OU-Texas midseason classic in quite a while in which the starting QBs for both teams are playing in their first Red River rivalry game), but defeat Baylor and Oklahoma State in Norman, setting up what the Big 12 absolutely does not want to see –an Oklahoma-Texas championship game.

Once the new season gets underway, Sooner fans will quickly forget all the turmoil that turned the program on its ear at season end last fall. This is still a very good Oklahoma team capable of going a long way in 2022. And it’s only going to get better from there.

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