Where The Oklahoma Sooners Will Likely Land In The Preseason Coaches Poll

The preseason US LBM Coaches Poll comes out tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT on the USA TODAY Sports YouTube channel, and Oklahoma fans are going to be watching closely to see where the Sooners land.

After last year’s 10-win season and playoff appearance, there’s more optimism around this team than there has been in a while. Still, the early rankings haven’t exactly been overflowing with respect.

Oklahoma was picked 7th in the SEC Preseason Media Poll. They finished 10th in the final Coaches Poll rankings last season. Those numbers give you a baseline, but they don’t fully capture the talent on this roster.

If the coaches are actually evaluating what Oklahoma has coming back, this should be a top-10 team.

The defense looks elite with guys like David Stone, Taylor Wein, Kip Lewis, and the Bowen brothers. John Mateer is healthy again. The skill positions are loaded. The offensive line is more experienced.

On paper, this is the most complete group Brent Venables has had.

The problem is that Oklahoma has been continually overlooked. You’re only now starting to hear national voices like Nick Saban, Paul Finebaum, Greg McElroy, and Roman Harper give them real credit.

For a long time the narrative stayed stuck on the early struggles under Venables instead of focusing on the progress that was made last year, especially that strong November run.

By the time these coaches submitted their ballots, a lot of them probably weren’t doing deep research into Oklahoma’s roster. Preseason polls are often driven by name recognition, recent results, and a bit of residual skepticism.

That’s why it’s not surprising that ESPN’s Football Power Index had them at 12th. A ranking somewhere in the 10-15 range feels like the most realistic outcome tomorrow.

Anything inside the top 10 would be a solid sign of respect. Landing in the 11-15 range would be about what most people expect. If they come in lower than that, it’ll just be more fuel for the “overlooked” narrative that Venables and the players can use as motivation.

These early rankings don’t decide anything, of course. The real measuring stick comes in September and October against a brutal schedule that includes Michigan, Georgia, and Texas early. But the Coaches Poll still carries some weight, and it’ll be interesting to see how much credit the voters are willing to give Oklahoma after last year’s jump.

The polls do matter to some extent because it is the baseline of where your starting point is, on the narratives of how good your team really is at the beginning of the season, moving up or down from there.

Tomorrow morning we’ll get the first official look at where the coaches have the Sooners. Don’t be shocked if it’s a little lower than the talent level deserves. That’s been the pattern so far.

The good news is that this team has the pieces to make those rankings look silly by the end of the year if they play up to their potential.