Sooners, Cowboys are 1-2 punch
Despite all the uncertainty surrounding a 2020 college football season, one aspect remains constant: OU was selected a st hep re season favorite to win the Big 12, the conference announced Friday afternoon.
OU garnered 80 of 90 firstplace votes in a poll of media members who cover the league. This is the fifth consecutive year the Sooners were voted to win the conference in the preseason. The only other schools to get any first-place votes were OSU (6) and Texas (4), which ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the poll, respectively.
The Sooners' position atop t he r a nki ngs c omes a s no surprise, as they have won the conference title five years in a row. OU coach Lincoln Riley won three of those titles as head coach, and two as offensive coordinator under Bob Stoops.
Riley is losing a host of players to the NFL, including Heisman runner-up quarterback Jalen
Hurts, superstar wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, and three crucial leaders on the defensive side of the ball in Kenneth Murray, Neville Gallimore and Parnell Motley. However OU returns five offensive linemen who s t a r t e d r e gul a r l y i n 2 019, i n c l u d i n g A l l - A m e r i c a n Creed Humphrey, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher in Kennedy Brooks and wideout Charleston Rambo, who was the team's second- l eading receiver i n 2019.
Red shirt sophomore Spencer Rattler is expected to take the reins at quarterback for Riley in the upcoming season. Rattler played in just three games last year, but comes in with high expectations due to being the top- ranked high school quarterback in the 2019 class, and Riley' s reputation for being the top quarterback developer in the country. The Big 12 announced on Thursday that Rattler was named Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
While the Sooners' ranking likely won't shock anyone, the Cowboys coming in a head of Texas may t urn some heads. Texas returns quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who was named to the preseason al l - conference team, and had top-three recruiting classes in the nation in 2017 and 2018.
But the Cowboys have running back C hub ba Hubbard, who may well be the conference' s best player. Hubbard led the nation in rushing yards and ranked top-three in touchdowns in 2019, and chose to pass up the NFL for another season in Stillwater.
Along with Hubbard, wide receiver Tylan Wallace, who is regarded as one of the best at his position in the country, chose to return to school after a season-ending injury in 2019.
Cowboy quarter back Spencer Sanders showed promise in his red shirt freshman season in 2019. He finished the year with 2,056 yards and 16 touchdowns en route to being voted as Big 1 2 Offensive Freshman of the Year. With Hubbard and Wallace returning, he'll have plenty of firepower to help him improve on his freshman campaign.