Will the Oklahoma offense be better, worse or about the same? 

Maybe it’s that new car smell on Lincoln Riley, but I see the offense taking steps forward this fall. The identity on that side of the ball got more and more muddled in the last two seasons to the point that the O was downright dysfunctional at the end of 2014. Things were especially bad at quarterback and receiver; hence, new position coaches for both.

I expect far better play from the wideouts with the addition of juco talent Dede Westbrook, split tight end Mark Andrews and, hopefully, a full season of Sterling Shepard. No matter who’s playing QB, he’ll outperform last season by virtue of having more dependable targets out wide.

The big question is if OU’s running game still has the same teeth in an Air Raid scheme with three new blockers on the offensive line. With Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon toting the ball, the Sooners should still be able to hold their own on the ground.

 

Will the Oklahoma defense be better worse or about the same? 

Better, in so far as it can’t get much worse.

To be fair, OU’s defense was pretty stout against the run in ’14. The back end, on the other hand, was a disaster.

Bob Stoops consolidated the defensive backs under one position coach, former Notre Dame secondary coach Kerry Cooks. Even though that should help improve communication between the safeties and cornerbacks, Cooks’ cupboard looks a little bare. For the D to succeed, either junior safeties Ahmad Thomas and Hatari Byrd have to improve significantly or some promising newcomers have to play way above their heads.

In the end, I do buy into the idea that the pass D will be better after giving the coaching staff nine months to clean things up. Even if the Sooners don’t stop the run quite as well this season, they’ll still have more luck keeping opponents out of the end zone.

 

You buying or selling this team in 2015? (How many games they winning this year?) 

The Big 12 gifted OU a dream schedule a year ago, and the Sooners squandered it. This season, the pendulum swings back.

At Tennessee. At Baylor. At Oklahoma State. At Kansas State.

That’s rough.

For OU to improve on last season’s record, the Sooners will probably have to hold serve at home (including a game against TCU), beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl and get at least one win out of those four aforementioned road trips.

I think they can pull that off. It’s likely, though, that OU could be a much better team and only improve on last season’s eight wins by a game or so.

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Allen Kenney, editor of the OU blog Blatant Homerism provided the information for our Oklahoma football 2015 spring wrap recap.  For more Oklahoma football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Allen on Twitter @BlatantHomerism.

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