2016 Football Preview – Big 12 – Sooners
Looking for 2016 Oklahoma Sooners predictions? The Sooners tend to perform best when the expectations are low. They will be ranked in the Preseason Top 5 going into the 2016 campaign, but this team seems too talented not to make some noise nationally.
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NCAA Division: Big 12
Head Coach: Bob Stoops
2015 Record: 11-2
Oklahoma Sooners Odds to win the 2017 FBS Championship: +1200
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Oklahoma is almost always one of the contenders in the Big 12 conference under head coach Bob Stoops; this year OU should lead the pack, especially with all the recent turmoil at Baylor.
2016 Oklahoma Sooners Predictions: Team Strengths
Stoops kept faith in last year’s starting QB Baker Mayfield when he started out shaky, and he rewarded him with a 3,700-yard, 36 TD season (36 scores to just seven INTs).
There isn’t much depth behind him, but provided he stays healthy he is a surefire Heisman Trophy candidate this year.
Another weapon is junior RB Samaje Perine, who had 1,349 yards and 16 TDs last season. When Perine isn’t toting the rock, backup Joe Mixon is also great.
Further to the offense, TE Mark Andrews was all-Big 12 as a freshman and the O-line should be very solid, anchored by OT Orlando Brown.
The offensive line is young, so they will be dominant for probably a couple of more seasons.
Sophomore Austin Seibert handles the kicking and punting duties, which is fine because he is exceptional.
On defense, there is nothing to worry about thanks to DE Charles Walker, LB Jordan Evans and a great secondary in general, with CB Jordan Thomas being the brightest star.
Clearly, the talent in Norman, OK is ample.
Don’t discount the coaching of Stoops as a strength, either.
He has been wearing the headset for OU for 18 years now, and while whispers to replace him occasionally swirl up, he has a 96-8 record at home to go with a Sugar Bowl and Cotton Bowl appearance two of the past three years.
2016 Oklahoma Sooners Predictions: Team Weaknesses
In a phrase, there aren’t many.
If we are being nitpicky, the Sooners don’t tend to handle the hype well; when ranked in the Preseason Top 5, they haven’t finished above #15 in any of the last four occasions (two of the four years, they finished completely unranked).
Also, the offense becomes far more one-dimensional if Mayfield goes down.
Thanks to transfers of Trevor Knight and Cody Thomas going to play baseball, the only QBs behind Mayfield are a highly-touted freshman (Austin Kendall) and a walk-on.
Lastly, the Sooners seem to have a jinx against Clemson.
The last two times facing the ACC powerhouse program, OU has been whipped, losing by a total of 77-23.
Oklahoma must hope it stays away from the orange and purple of Clemson in postseason play.
Oklahoma Sooners Prediction
This is a prodigiously gifted football team whose offense and defense should both rank in the Top 10 nationally.
There is enough experience from last year and it is intriguing experience, as OU threw a lot of freshman into the fire last year and it paid off.
There are plenty of underclassmen that are returning starters in 2016.
The offense, especially, has a chance to be incredibly potent due to its balance. Mayfield, Perine & Mixon, Andrews and WR DeDe Westbrook are all fantastic football players.
The Sooners have a tough home game on Sept. 17 against Ohio State, but apart from that I see them running the table and, with apologies to TCU, winning the Big 12 Conference rather easily.
To be fair, sandwiched between a bye week, Oklahoma has a tough stretch of Ohio State, at TCU and Texas, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
But I think this team has the chops to handle it.
2016 Oklahoma Sooners Football Schedule
- 09/03/2016 at Houston (NRG Stadium) Noon
- 09/10/2016 vs. UL-Monroe 7:00 pm
- 09/17/2016 vs. Ohio State 7:30 pm
- 09/24/2016 BYE
- 10/01/2016 at TCU TBA
- 10/08/2016 vs. Texas (Red River Shootout) TBA
- 10/15/2016 vs. Kansas St. TBA
- 10/22/2016 at Texas Tech TBA
- 10/29/2016 vs. Kansas TBA
- 11/03/2016 at Iowa State 7:30 pm
- 11/12/2016 vs. Baylor TBA
- 11/19/2016 at West Virginia TBA
- 12/03/2016 vs. Oklahoma St. TBA
What do you think about our 2016 Oklahoma Sooners predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2016!
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