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Predicting the first loss for every college football top 25 team

By Nathaniel Reeves

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Deondre Francois
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Deondre Francois /
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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners celebrates after defeating the Auburn Tigers 35-19 during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 02: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners celebrates after defeating the Auburn Tigers 35-19 during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 2, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners: at Ohio State, Sept. 9

As if taking over for a college football legend wasn’t enough pressure, 33-year-old Lincoln Riley is expected to have the Sooners competing for a College Football Playoff berth and has to deal with an impossibly tough road contest in his second career game as a head coach.

Bob Stoops’ final season in charge of Oklahoma didn’t get off to a good start, as the Sooners were stunned by Houston and trounced by Ohio State within the first three weeks of the year. With Heisman finalists Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook leading the way, the Sooners bounced back with a 10-game winning streak to end the season and took down Auburn in the Cotton Bowl.

Mayfield is back under center behind a terrific offensive line that includes second-team All-American Orlando Brown, which will help somewhat offset the massive losses of Westbrook, Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine. Oklahoma’s defense has far more continuity than the shaky 2016 unit and should be much improved if healthy this season, with end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and corner Jordan Thomas looking like potential stars.

There’s enough talent left for Oklahoma to capture another Big 12 title if not more, and Riley has put together amazing offenses as a coordinator before. Still, Oklahoma is going to be a fairly significant underdog in the Shoe on Sept. 9 following its season-opening warmup against UTEP.

Even if the Sooners defense can limit the Buckeyes a little more effectively than the 2016 meeting, an unproven group of running backs and wide receivers will struggle to move the ball against Ohio State’s playmaking front seven, and Mayfield can’t do everything himself. A loss in Columbus won’t knock the Sooners out of playoff contention quite yet, but surviving a gauntlet of Texas, Oklahoma State (likely twice) and at Kansas State would be a remarkable debut by Riley.