Today, I wanted to visit the old adage "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." As is the case, never has the Texas-OU rivalry ever been hotter than it is right now coming off the 2008-09 sports season. In basketball, the men's teams split the regular season matchups, with Blake Griffin getting knocked out of the game in Austin before leading his team to an Elite 8 run ended by UNC. Meanwhile, Texas fought valiantly before bowing out to Duke in round 2 in a year marred by inconsistent play and glaring faults. In baseball, Texas swept OU as both squads captured top 8 seeds in the NCAA tournament. However, OU was vanquished by another enemy of the 'Horns in the Arkansas Razorbacks in the regionals while Texas makes its 33rd trip to Omaha this week. Finally, as you might of heard by now, Texas came back from a double digit deficit in Dallas to prevail 45-35 over OU, only to get passed over for the Big 12 title game, National Championship Game, and Heisman trophy.
So, heading into the 2009 college football season, it's easy to say we still hate the Sooners. We hate that they come to Texas to recruit. We hate that they keep going to BCS games. (Though it's quite humorous to see them lay egg after egg in the big games.) We hate that they get rewarded for scoring 60 every game, while people overlook their D giving up over buttloads of points in those games. We also hate that they have an aversion to toothbrushes, deodorant, and homes without wheels. But that's just being picky....
It's 4:10, and OU still sucks. It's also about that time to get to know your enemy. There's plenty of time left to dissect the Texas team going into the new season. But for now, let's get to know the ins and outs of OU football for the 2009 season.
Offense
One of OU's potential saving graces this season is the amount of talent that decided to come back despite the opportunity to be first round draft picks for the NFL. Obviously, everyone knows Sam Bradford, but I might argue that Jermaine Gresham's return is just as critical. Gresham will help make up for the loss of a good chunk of Bradford's wide receiving corp from 2008. At 6'6", 260 lbs., Gresham is an athletic freak who can line up at TE or WR. However, it'll be interesting to see if teams can focus on him this season. OU will need players like Ryan Broyles to step up, and Mossis Madu will play a lot out of the slot rather than as an RB this year. In addition, Trent Williams will come back to try to add some stability to the OU O-line. 4 starters off of last season's team have moved on, and this will truly be the big question mark about the Sooners this season. Can they piece together a line that will help protect Bradford, or will he look a lot less spectacular if he's having to run for his life and throw the ball away? Finally, Murray and Brown will be back in the backfield, although Demarco Murray has been lost to injuries twice the past few years. He's easily OU's most explosive back, but can they keep him on the field? Maybe a reduction in special teams return duties will keep him available for a full year.
The bottom line is that this is still a very potent offense, but the departures at WR and OL would seem to be the "weak links," relatively speaking, going into 2009. If OU can get capable replacements at WR, and meld together a solid O-line (the talent is likely there, if not the experience, they'll easily be in the running for another Big 12 title.
Defense
For all the worries about the offensive line, the defensive line for OU is likely one of the most formidable in college football. Gerald McCoy joins the offensive returnees who turned down NFL millions to come back to Norman...for some reason or another, I guess. Regardless, he'll be joined by Frank Alexander, Auston English and Adrian Taylor, amongst others, in applying pressure and trying to lock down the run. Behind them stand a stable of linebackers with plenty of depth, including Ryan Reynolds, Travis Lewis, and Keenan Clayton. The secondary, not exactly elite last season, still lacks depth and experience as standouts Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes moved on. OU will be breaking in two new safeties this season as they try to slow down the pass happy attacks of the Big 12. (More on this in the schedule section.)
On defense last season, OU was able to mask many of their issues by outscoring their opponents and letting the media fawn over those 60 point performances. (They gave up 31 to KU, 35 to KSU, 28 to Nebraska, 45 to Texas, 28 to A&M and 41 to Okie State.) This season? Well, they could be better, but they'd better hope Ryan Reynolds and Auston English are able to overcome injuries, otherwise we could be looking at a team trying to outscore everyone again, but with fewer weapons to do so. They get 9 starters back overall, but how good were those starters? Maybe we find out this year.
Schedule
This is the part I really wanted to spend some time on. According to Phil Steele, OU has the 3rd toughest schedule in the nation this season. Especially considering that their pass defense struggled last year (ranked 99th in the nation in pass defense according to Athlon), OU might have some struggles against a plethora of pass-happy teams this season. BYU, Tulsa, Texas, Kansas, and Texas Tech all face off against OU in '09. Furthermore, here are the road (and neutral) games for the Sooners: BYU (in Arlington), U. of Miami, Texas (in Dallas), at Kansas, at Nebraska, and at Texas Tech (late in the season when Tech will have settled in with their new QB, Taylor Potts, and where OU has struggled in recent years.) Throw in a year-ending matchup with Okie State in the Bedlam Series, and this may be a year where OU does trip up, in conference or out, trying to get settled into a new O-line.
One more thing to consider is that OU benefitted a lot from turnovers last season. And, statistically speaking, what goes around often comes around in following years. In other words, about 77% of the teams with a double-digit + turnover margin often see a stagnation or drop in their record the following year. (According to Phil Steele, OU was +23 last season.) Certainly this doesn't guarantee anything, but it's a trend that's held up solidly since 1996 according to Mr. Steele's research. So, it's worth observing this year.
All in all, OU will once again be a great team, and a tough team to beat. But, with Texas winning 3 of the last 4, with OU facing some serious issues at Offensive Line and Wide Receiver, and with OU staring at a "harder than it looks" schedule, here's hoping that Texas can get back to the MNC game without any of the drama or insanity of last season. And if we have to see a few more faces like this after the matchup in Dallas....
...then that's okay, too.
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