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Oklahoma football ranked No. 20 in 2023 AP Preseason Poll

By Chip Rouse

CHINA - 2023/02/15: In this photo illustration, the American news agency Associated Press (AP) logo seen displayed on a smartphone with an economic stock exchange index graph in the background. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
CHINA - 2023/02/15: In this photo illustration, the American news agency Associated Press (AP) logo seen displayed on a smartphone with an economic stock exchange index graph in the background. (Photo Illustration by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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Oklahoma football Team 129 will begin the 2023 season as the 20th-ranked team in the Preseason Associated Press Top 25.

This marks the 24th consecutive year the Sooners have been ranked among the top 25 teams in the initial AP college football poll of the season. That also is the second longest active streak behind Ohio State (35).

In the history of the AP preseason college football poll, which started in 1936, Oklahoma has made 63 appearances overall, that too is the second most of any college team, also behind Ohio State, which has made 70 overall appearances in the initial AP rankings of the season.

Oklahoma is one of four Big 12 teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25. Texas is the highest-ranked of the Big 12 teams at No. 11. Kansas State is No. 16 and TCU No. 17. The No. 20 ranking for OU in the AP poll is one spot lower than the Sooners’ No. 19 placement in Preseason Coaches Poll that came out a week ago.

The top five teams in the AP Preseason Top 25 for 2023 are No. 1 Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and LSU. Six teams from the SEC are represented in the preseason AP poll, including three of the top five. And if you add on OU and Texas, who will be joining the SEC for next season, that would make eight team out of the SEC. Either way, the number exceeds all other Power Five leagues.

Only three times since the 2000 season have the Sooners been ranked in the AP Top 25 to start the season and not make the final rankings at the end of the season. Over that time, Oklahoma has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP preseason rankings 20 times, 13 times in the top five and twice as the preseason No. 1 (2011 and 2003).

As I wrote a week ago when the Preseason Coaches Poll was released, a No. 19 or 20 ranking to begin the 2023 season is probably right where Oklahoma should be entering the 2023 season. The Sooners will have every opportunity to challenge that ranking and move up in the rankings with how the perform on the field as the season progresses. But for the time being, it’s probably just right.

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