The college football season is now less than 100 days away, and for Oklahoma, their inaugural SEC campaign kicks off in 101 days when they host Temple on August 30 for a Friday night opener at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
This season is crucial for Oklahoma as they transition from the Big 12 to the SEC, and for head coach Brent Venables, who enters his third year. This move coincides with conference realignment and an expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff. The Sooners are coming off a 10-win season and a No. 15 finish in the final AP poll. While they’re replacing several key offensive players, including all five starters on the offensive line, they return a wealth of defensive experience and have new coordinators in all three phases: Seth Littrell (offense), Zac Alley (defense), and Doug Deakin (special teams).
With 101 days until Oklahoma’s season opener, offseason predictions are heating up. On Monday, the Sooners were ranked No. 18 in ESPN’s post-spring top-25 power rankings. On Tuesday, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his post-spring update to the 2024 SP+ rankings.
The first edition of the SP+ rankings was released in February, after the 2024 recruiting cycle and before most spring practices. The latest update follows the completion of spring practices and the post-spring transfer portal window. A final preseason set of rankings will be published in August.
SP+ rankings measure efficiency in college football, adjusted for tempo and opponents. Connelly describes SP+ as “a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a resume ranking.”
As the offseason peaks, the Sooners have held steady at No. 15 in the latest SP+ rankings update, with an SP+ of 19.3, slightly up from 18.9 in February. Oklahoma has an offensive rating of 36.9 (17th nationally) and a defensive rating of 17.5 (16th among FBS teams). However, their special teams rank 95th with a minus-0.3 rating, reflecting last season’s struggles.
In the newly expanded, 16-team SEC, seven teams rank ahead of Oklahoma in SP+: Georgia (No. 1, 36.3), Texas (No. 4, 29.5), Alabama (No. 5, 29.1), Ole Miss (No. 8, 26.6), LSU (No. 9, 25.1), Missouri (No. 11, 23.1), and Texas A&M (No. 13, 19.8). The SEC boasts the highest average SP+ ranking (16.1), far surpassing the Big Ten (9.9).
Oklahoma faces five of these top-ranked SEC teams this season. The Sooners play Texas in early October, host Alabama in late November, and travel to Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU, contributing to their third-toughest strength of schedule nationally.
Additionally, Oklahoma’s schedule includes Tennessee (16th in SP+), road games against Auburn (31st) and South Carolina (43rd), and nonconference games against Temple (132nd), Houston (79th), Tulane (65th), and Maine (not ranked due to being an FCS team).
According to SP+, Oklahoma has a 6.5% chance of finishing the season 10-2 or better, potentially contending for a College Football Playoff spot.
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