Oklahoma season preview: Best and worst-case scenario

Lincoln Riley will now enter an era without Baker Mayfield as the Oklahoma Sooners get ready for the 2018 season but can they get back to the Playoff?

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off of yet another trip to the College Football Playoff. 2017 was a tremendous season under Lincoln Riley in his first year taking over for Bob Stoops. The Sooners finished with a 12-2 record and made the College Football Playoff.

In the College Football Playoff, the Sooners faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs in what turned out to be one of the most entertaining Rose Bowls in memory. The two battled to the bitter end in double overtime, before Baker Mayfield and the Sooners fell just short.

Now, in 2018, the Sooners will be onto a new era as Mayfield has moved onto the NFL. Taking over for Mayfield was his back up in 2017, Kyler Murray. The first-round pick for the Oakland Athletics in the MLB Draft decided to remain with the Sooners and will play out the season at quarterback.

Murray is an experienced quarterback after his time with Texas A&M and will be the perfect candidate to step in and replace one of the best quarterbacks in program history. They also lost monstrous offensive lineman Orlando Brown and tight end Mark Andrews, which will see some new faces up front. On the defensive side of the ball, they’ll have to replace linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, who was a productive member of the Sooners’ defense.

The Sooners are favorites to win the Big 12 Conference again and the best-case scenario for them again is winning the conference and getting back into the College Football Playoff. They have two huge road tests with TCU and West Virginia, but they get rival Oklahoma State at home. Of course, the rivalry game with Texas is always tough to predict but they should continue to rule this rivalry in the meantime while Tom Herman continues to build his program.

Best-Case Scenario

• Sept. 1 vs. Florida Atlantic – W
• Sept. 8 vs. UCLA – W
• Sept. 15 at Iowa State – W
• Sept. 22 vs. Army – W
• Sept. 29 vs. Baylor – W
• Oct. 6 at Texas – W
• Oct. 20 at TCU – W
• Oct. 27 vs. Kansas State – W
• Nov. 3 at Texas Tech – W
• Nov. 10 vs. Oklahoma State – W
• Nov. 17 vs. Kansas – W
• Nov. 23 at West Virginia – W

The worst case here for Oklahoma is that they suffer a loss to either Texas or TCU in October. That means with one loss, that the Sooners would have to remain perfect the rest of the way to make it into the College Football Playoff. However, their final game of the season at West Virginia is going to be incredibly tough and one that could end their dreams if they get caught looking ahead.

Worst-Case Scenario

• Sept. 1 vs. Florida Atlantic – W
• Sept. 8 vs. UCLA – W
• Sept. 15 at Iowa State – W
• Sept. 22 vs. Army – W
• Sept. 29 vs. Baylor – W
• Oct. 6 at Texas – W
• Oct. 20 at TCU – L
• Oct. 27 vs. Kansas State – W
• Nov. 3 at Texas Tech – W
• Nov. 10 vs. Oklahoma State – W
• Nov. 17 vs. Kansas – W
• Nov. 23 at West Virginia – L

Overall, the Sooners are primed to compete and do huge things in the Big 12 again. There are some tough games on the schedule, but if they can survive back-to-back games against Texas and TCU, they’ll be set to make a run at the College Football Playoff yet again.