The Oklahoma Sooners have been official members of the SEC for two weeks now, but the process of getting “SEC-ready” began when Brent Venables was hired as the head coach in December 2021. Venables arrived in Norman less than six months after news of the SEC move leaked.
The program had two and a half years to get ready for the toughest conference in college football, and now we’re a few short weeks away from the beginning of the 2024 season, OU’s first in the SEC.
Brad Crawford of 247Sports updated his SEC power rankings ahead of SEC media days this week. He also included where each team ranked in his eyes pre-spring.
Crawford made sure to note how strong the league is, pointing to updated league-wide power rankings and the chance that more than half of the SEC will be ranked inside various preseason polls next month, a new record for a conference now strengthened by the additions of the Sooners and the Texas Longhorns.
Crawford dropped the Sooners to ninth in his preseason SEC rankings, one spot below his pre-spring ranking. He flipped Oklahoma and the Texas A&M Aggies on his list. Here’s what he had to say about the Sooners with six weeks to go until kickoff:
“This is not a ranking indicative of how we’re projecting teams will finish in 2024, but is more of a look at rosters approaching fall camp and which programs would win head-to-head matchups with each other if games were played next week. These power rankings could look very different by the end of September,” Crawford said. “The first of the SEC’s newcomers this fall, Oklahoma hasn’t received the same heightened level of preseason love as their cohorts from Texas. Part of that is based on the Sooners’ loaded schedule with a first-year starting quarterback in Jackson Arnold who will see his share of bullets early. A few portal…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/where-does-247sports-sooners-updated-203018026.html
Author : Sooners Wire
Publish date : 2024-07-14 20:30:18
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