Oklahoma Sooners 2008 Preview

Coach: Bob Stoops (97-22) Tenth Year
Last Year: 11-3, 7-2 Big 12 South, first of six (Big 12 Champions) 
Returning Starters : Offense 8*, Line 5 | Defense 6, Line 3

Three Things You Should Know
1) The entire offensive line is back for OU, so Sam Bradford should have an out of this world season. Last year was crazy enough as Bradford had a 69.5% completion percentage and threw for 3,121 yards with 36 TDs vs 8 INTs.
2) The Sooners did lose leading rusher Allen Patrick (1009 yards). Does it matter? Demarco Murray looks like he'll challenge for the Big 12 rushing title after putting up 764 yards last year with a 6.0 ypc average and 13 rushing TDs.
3) OU does lose both corners and they are actually a little young and inexperienced at linebacker. That excludes JR MLB Ryan Reynolds who should be an All Big 12 first teamer. Senior safeties Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes should help stabilize the back seven.

Trends
OU is 49-2 this decade at home and the overall win total of 90 since 2000 is the nation's best ... the last OU home loss was an opening day home loss to TCU 17-7 in 2005.

The Game
At some point, Mark Mangino will beat Bob Stoops. Could it be in Norman? Clearly this is the most difficult game of the season for Kansas, but the one thing that works in KU's favor is that OU will be playing Texas the prior week. The Hawks would probably prefer an OU win there to play an overconfident Sooner squad. The experience against Virginia Tech's defense last January should help here along with the USF matchup. Still, the Sooners present pretty big defensive problems for the Hawks though and if you look back, last year's weakness was the passing game for KU. By this time, we'll want to have a rush threat from the DE position. If that has been established, we should give the Sooners a game.

2008 Oklahoma Schedule
Aug. 30, 2008 Chattanooga 
Sept. 6, 2008 Cincinnati  
Sept. 13, 2008 at Washington 
Sept. 27, 2008 TCU  
Oct. 4, 2008 at Baylor  
Oct. 11, 2008 Texas 
Oct. 18, 2008 Kansas
Oct. 25, 2008 at Kansas State
Nov. 1, 2008 Nebraska 
Nov. 8, 2008 at Texas A&M  
Nov. 22, 2008 Texas Tech 
Nov. 29, 2008 at OK State

2007 Results
W North Texas 79-10
W Miami-FL 51-13
W Utah State 54-3
W at Tulsa 62-21
L at Colorado 27-24
W at Texas 28-21
W Missouri 41-31
W at Iowa State 17-7
W Texas A&M 42-14
W Baylor 52-21
L at Texas Tech 34-27
W OK State 49-17
W at Missouri 38-17
L West Virginia 48-28