We are 70 days before the college football season starts in Norman.
The Sooners take on Arkansas State to open the year. Many vary on how Oklahoma’s season will go.
Some think it could be a disastrous year again for the Sooners, but others think they could make a run at the College Football Playoff. Based on preseason projections, the national narrative has Oklahoma among those who will contend for the Big 12 title in 2023.
According to a former Sooner great, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Former Sooner Gabe Ikard went on the Unnecessary Roughness podcast, and when asked his expectations for the Sooners, his answer was simple, “The expectation is to win the Big 12 and go to the College Football Playoff.”
We had @GabeIkard on tonight’s episode and got to ask him his expectations for Oklahoma in 2023:
Win the Big 12
Go to the CFPThat’s the standard.
Go watch/listen now: https://t.co/orjmpb5zFJ pic.twitter.com/HF6UuqRpWQ
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) June 23, 2023
Ikard was then pressed by one of the hosts of the show, Kayce Smith to give a “real expectation” to which he replied, “It does not change,” Ikard said. “I’m telling you, it does not change. When you look at the Big 12, they are going to play one team where the argument can be made that the team’s got more talent than them. If you’ve got more talent than the other team and you’re well coached, you are supposed to win.”
He followed that up by saying going 6-7 last season does not change the expectation, “That’s just life at OU.”
Ikard seems to be speaking from a player’s perspective. The players obviously understand the standard at Oklahoma is to win championships.
But with that being said, a lot of things go into being able to do that and it’s not just talent. Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley almost always had the most talent but rarely went undefeated. Riley never did.
A lot of stuff has to line up, like your roster construction, the scheme you play in, and how that fits your players.
Also, you can have a bunch of four and five-star players, but unless they develop and reach their ceilings, are they really that “talented?” And as we’ve seen in recent years, star status doesn’t always match reality.
Brent Venables was tasked with a tough job because the last staff did a great job developing the offensive side of the ball but did a poor job developing the defensive side.
Combine that with a lot of the offensive guys they developed left to either follow Riley or go to the NFL, and it makes it tough.
That’s not to make excuses. That’s just facts. Year two should be better, and it better be better. Win the Big 12 and making the CFP might be the “standard,” but that’s not a goal fans should expect. Winning the Big 12 is reasonable, but after seeing all of the holes from last year’s team, making the CFP is a stretch, to say the least.
A realistic goal is nine-plus wins and making the conference title game. After that, we’ll see what happens.
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