Where will Oklahoma come out in SEC Preseason Media Poll?
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma dominated the Big 12, winning 14 conference championships, including six consecutive titles between 2015 and 2021.
The Sooners were the top pick in 7 of the last 10 Big 12 Preseason Media Polls. But now the Sooners are newcomers to the more competitive Southeastern Conference, and on Friday OU football fans are going to get a taste of the new reality when the SEC 2024 Preseason Media Poll is released.
Based on the myriad of preseason rankings and preseason power rankings that have flooded the market since the end of the 2023 college football season, Oklahoma is probably going to fall in the eight or nine range in the SEC preseason poll. The release of the predicted order of finish in the conference standings caps off the week of media interviews and cheerleading that surrounds SEC Media Days and serves as the unofficial kickoff of the 2024 college football season.
Here's the problem for the Sooners: As many as eight SEC teams, including Oklahoma, are projected to be in the Associated Press and Coaches Poll preseason top-25 rankings when those widely followed polls are released next month. And six of the seven are on the Sooners' 2024 schedule. The only SEC team in the upper tier of the league power rankings that OU does not face this coming season is likely No. 1-ranked Georgia.
It's a pretty safe bet that Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Missouri will all be ranked ahead of the Sooners, and I wouldn't be that surprised if Texas A&M gets the nod over OU as well.
There is nothing binding, of course, about these preseason rankings. Much can change over the course of a three-month regular season, and historically we know it will. For example, I believe the Sooners can and will defeat Tennessee at home in September and steal a game against former Big 12 foe Missouri in Columbia in November. And I wouldn't rule out potential upsets of Alabama or Ole Miss, either.
What I'm saying is, the course of the 12-game regular season will ultimately determine how the order of the standings shakes out at season's end. All the preseason hype and prognostication only serves to fuel media stories, sports talk discussion and debate and interest and excitement among fans.
Get ready, the fun is just beginning.