Several of 247Sports ‘Boldest Predictions’ provide interesting outlook for the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners
We’re under three months away from the start of the 2022 college football season, making this time of the year the time to get a little crazy with some old prognostications.
With only spring ball to provide context about how we feel about certain teams across the country, some educated guesses are required to predict how the 2022 season will transpire. And sometimes you put it all on the line with bold predictions.
Well, Brad Crawford of 247Sports took it a bit further and provided his “10 boldest predictions” for the 2022 college football season. And several of the predictions have a Sooners’ twist.
First, Crawford takes a wild stab with Nebraska starting the season 5-0 and beating Oklahoma in the Sooners trip to Lincoln. The Cornhuskers were a college football darling after being dubbed “the best three-win team in college football history” in 2021.
Sure, the two sides played a close game in 2021 with Oklahoma coming out on top 23-16, but do all those close losses signify that Nebraska will be a better team in 2022? Crawford thinks so.
Not to apply any additional pressure on Scott Frost this season, but Nebraska’s late-September game against Oklahoma in Lincoln is arguably the most important of his coaching career up to this point. Frost’s contract buyout changes significantly Oct. 1 according to new language and that’s a barometer game for which he’ll be judged moving forward against a former Big 12 rival. There’s a good chance the Huskers will be 3-0 going into that one if new quarterback Casey Thompson is the real deal and Nebraska is able to take advantage of a soft early-season slate. With an open week before Big Ten foe Indiana coming out of the Oklahoma game, pencil in the Huskers as 5-0 and the talk of the conference going to Rutgers Oct. 7 as a bold prediction. – Crawford, 247Sports
Casey Thompson was solid in the first half against Oklahoma last year helping the Longhorns jump out to a big lead after two Spencer Rattler turnovers. However, is he going to be a better player with Nebraska than he was with Texas?
He’s solid, but he won’t have Xavier Worthy to throw to or Bijan Robinson to hand the ball of to, which will make life more difficult for the one-time Texas quarterback.
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Winning the Popular Vote? Lincoln Riley
Lincoln Riley’s tour as the national media darling continues as Crawford’s next “boldest prediction” has Lincoln Riley having the best season of first-year head coaches in their new locations.
Anyone taking wagers on who wins more games during his first season — Oklahoma’s Brent Venables or USC’s Lincoln Riley? Sooners fans won’t like my answer. In the not-so-bold category, the Trojans’ new coach who led Oklahoma to three playoff appearances over five seasons at the helm has the roster to win big in Year 1 out West, but he’ll have to get through Utah in the conference championship game to get closer to the ultimate prize. Including the postseason, I would set USC’s win total this fall at 10.5 given the talent Riley has acquired through the transfer portal. Mario Cristobal at Miami is another first-year coach worth keeping an eye on who could really make a splash with the Hurricanes. – Crawford, 247Sports
The USC Trojans added a ton of talent over the offseason. Of that there’s no doubt. Bringing Caleb Williams and Mario Williams with him from OU, adding Travis Dye from Oregon, and Jordan Addison from Pitt, I mean the transfer portal, has the Trojans playing with an improved roster. But are they so good that they jump from four wins in 2021 to 10 or 11 in 2022?
It’s certainly possible. Dave Aranda took a two-win Baylor team and transformed it into a Big 12 champion and New Year’s Six bowl winner in a season. So anything’s possible. And in a Pac-12 that doesn’t have great depth at the moment, it’ll be up to Oregon, Utah, and an improving UCLA squad to slow the hype Trojan horse down.
Lincoln Riley’s a good coach. And Caleb Willims is a good quarterback that can still improve. At the same time, both will have to prove that 2021’s offensive inconsistencies with a talented Oklahoma team were an aberration and not college football figuring out Riley’s offense.
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Texas is back? This Time
Death, taxes, and “Texas is back.” The three things you can count on in life.
Sure, we’re poking fun a bit at our rivals to the south. At the same time, like with USC, Crawford’s expecting a big jump for a five-win Texas team that lost to Kansas.
Quinn Ewers should be an upgrade at quarterback, but scoring wasn’t necessarily their issue last year as two of their more high-profile losses came in games where they scored more than 40 points against OU and more than 50 points against Kansas.
They should be better on defense and like USC, added some talent to the offensive side of the ball. And while Quinn Ewers might end up a great quarterback for the Longhorns, we saw fellow five-star QBs Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams struggle with consistency in the newly defensive Big 12. It shouldn’t be assumed that Ewers will just walk into the league and light it on fire.
That said, he has the weaponry to have a huge season for the Longhorns and make any of their perceived weaknesses a non-issue.
In the ultra-competitive Big 12, the widespread assumption this summer is this season’s conference champion wins nine — maybe 10 games — this fall after getting through a landmine-filled slate. That Week 2 tussle with top-ranked Alabama is going to pay off in a big way for the Longhorns, who will recover from that loss to impress during Steve Sarkisian’s second campaign after a five-win face plant in 2021. Texas is talented enough to lead the conference in scoring offense this fall if offensive line play is sold and Quinn Ewers is the impact player many of us expect him to be in Austin. – Crawford, 247Sports
The Texas Longhorns should be a much better team in 2022 than they were last year. Contending for the conference is certainly a possibility. And if they do, the Sooners and Longhorns could make the Big 12’s nightmare a reality; representing the conference in the conference title game in what could be their last season in the Big 12.
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