Alabama Football: A deep dive into CFB’s top 25 for 2020

Outside of Jalen Hurts and CeeDee Lamb, the Sooners aren’t losing much on either side of the ball in 2020. I’m not trying to understate how good Hurts and Lamb were in 2019, but Oklahoma has a former 5-star recruit in Spencer Rattler who looks to be the next Oklahoma QB to be a Heisman Finalist.

On defense, the Sooners weren’t great in 2019, but they also weren’t as bad as they were in 2018. They return most of their starters on defense which means they should improve again in 2020.

Lincoln Riley was rumored for just about every NFL head coaching vacancy this offseason but was especially connected with rumors about the Cowboys opening. In the end, the rumors were mostly just rumors and he finds himself back at Oklahoma with another National Championship caliber team.

The Sooners have a relatively easy schedule in 2020 as well. The one non-conference opponent that could potentially pose a challenge is Tennessee in Week 2. In recent years, Tennessee has been getting off to slow starts. So, this bodes well for the Sooners’ chances against the Vols.

The rest of the non-conference schedule includes Missouri State and Army. Army’s triple-option offense may pose problems for the defense, but in the end, Oklahoma’s offense will be just too good to overcome.

Oklahoma’s season will be made in October. Their three toughest games are all in October.

• Baylor – October 3rd
• Texas – October 10th
• Oklahoma State – October 24th

If they make it through that stretch undefeated or even with just one loss, they will be in a prime position to return to the College Football Playoff in 2020.