The HLS Totally Non-Homer Top 25 – Preseason Edition: #10 – Oklahoma

I feel a special connection with Oklahoma because, according to many Oklahoma fans with whom I've spoken, the 1999 Notre Dame/Oklahoma game in which ND won 34-30 actually convinced these fans that Oklahoma would make it "back on top" soon. And, astonishingly, they were right. This is a little weird because, at the time, Oklahoma was ranked in the top 25 and ND was unranked. In fact, until this game, ND had managed to lose 3 straight. And it was a Bob Davie coached squad. Yep. Bob Davie, in his career at ND, beat Bob Stoops and Pete Carroll (a girl's name! ha!). Can you imagine? Anyway, these Oklahoma fans are apparently able to see beyond simple wins and losses, so good on them, I guess.

Last year's 2006 squad suffered some really weird circumstances. First QB Rhett Bomar and RG JD Quinn were dismissed from the team. This resulted in a string of headlines like "QB, Quinn Dismissed from Team," causing my heart to stop about a dozen times. Then they got absolutely screwed by officials in a game against Oregon. And to top it all off, they lost Adrian Peterson for about half the year. And despite that, they still went 11-3. That's good coaching. And despite now losing Peterson to the NFL, I'd look for these guys to at least perform up to last year's level.

Offense: Just like last year, they need to find a QB, but at least they knew that back in the spring, rather than just weeks before the season kicks off. To help that situation out, they get all of last year's receiving corps back and return 6 players with starting experience on the O-Line.

Defense: Just a big ole' boat load of talent. They do have to to replace 4 starters, but their linbackers are all people that other teams would kill to have, and their secondary is the sort of secondary for which Notre Dame fans have been dreaming for years now.

Special Teams: This is an area in which Stoops always does well. They return pretty much all of the talent they used last year to put together one of the best special teams in the country. Stoops isn't shy about just finding what works and going with that, be is unusual punting habits or digging thru the closet to find a good punt returner.

Facts:

• Those weird fans I spoke of earlier were, of course, right. Oklahoma won the NC the very next year, despite not being ranked to begin the 2000 season.
• Wide Receiver Malcolm Kelly once had 134 yards receiving in a single quarter, against juggernaut Middle Tennessee.
• Before Bob Stoops showed up, Oklahoma had 5 losing seasons in a row.

HLS Top 25 Meta:

• Highest spot on a HLS Ballot: 7
• Lowest spot on a HLS Ballot: 17
• Average ranking on HLS Ballots: 11

Why Alex Trebek Loves Them:

• (Since I already used that unbelievable bit about Bob Davie...) Oklahoma's loss to Southern Cal in 2004 for the National Title was their worst loss since 1997. Score: 55-19.

Around the Web:

• AOL Fanhouse
• Oklahoma Sooners Blog

HLS Tracker 10 Forecast Technology Says:

Looking at their schedule, I really don't see anyone getting in their way until Texas in the 6th week of their season. And yeah, that means I see them plowing right thru Miami in the 2nd week and again thru Colorado in week 5. That means they're set up nicely to make a solid run thru the tougher 2nd half of their schedule because their QB will be matured and they'll have figured out who the real heir to Peterson will be. Anything fewer than 9 wins would be a disappointment.