Sooners return 33 but SEC deserves No. 1 ranking

Originally Published: Jan 17, 2011 6:9 PM CDTOU has 14 players coming back who have starting experience on offense and 15 on defense.&#160; Never heard

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 1:32 pm

By: News 9

Originally Published: Jan 17, 2011 6:9 PM CDT

OU has 14 players coming back who have starting experience on offense and 15 on defense.  Never heard of 29 “starters returning,” but that stat is the most accurate way to gauge true experience. The actual number should be 33, because OU returns four specialists with starting experience.  The math may not add up but the wins should. The experience should come in handy with the early season venture into Florida.  *The key to the season will likely be the game in Tallahassee.  Jimbo  Fisher proved Bobby Bowden’s departure was overdue as he turned the Noles from one that did not resemble the teams we all remember to one that will is ranked in the top five teams to win the national championship by some books in Vegas. Sooners best beware. Sets up just like the Miami game did.   You have two traditional powers who were embarrassed in Norman. Miami got its revenge on their home turf. Will Florida State do the same? Dicey game for the Sooners. But one that will get tons of hype and if you win, you’ve got momentum and set yourselves up with a team to be reckoned with.   *The astounding number of returning starters justifies anyone taking OU as the number one team in the preseason. But until proven wrong, I’m taking a team from the SECeven if I have to throw a dart to pick the team.   *Conversing with a buddy and came to the conclusion that if MLB Austin Box had not returned healthy enough to play late in the season, OU would not have won out after the A/M loss. The ‘being at the right place at the right time’ adage applies to football and life.    *Texting with Kelvin. The former Sooner boss typing that “Blake’s (Griffin) a monster! Wow!!! I personally have an aversion to exclamation points. But when it’s coming from a coach and that coach is referring to Blake Griffin it’s okay by me.   *Still not believing Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez beat Bill Belicek and Tom Brady. Winning at NE and at Indy in consecutive weeks to Brady and Manning is hard to envision.  Never thought I’d put Sanchez or Ryan in the same sentence as Joe Willie, but if they advance to the Super Bowl, that will be the comparison we hear the most.   *If 7 is the over/under on number of wins for Texas next season in football, color me over. Predictably, Mack hired proven coaches who will work with highly recruited players. Then again there’s that QB thing, which begs the question;  who was that guy who looked so promising  replacing Colt McCoy in that national title game? I swear his name was Garrett Gilbert who was so good that night he had national and Texas media reporting UT would not be skipping a beat in the post-Colt Era. I’m taking the over because I believe he’ll either get the coaching or take it up a couple of notches or that Mack will figure it out one way or another. Surely, Texas won’t win seven or less with all the talent in Austin.  *By comparison, the Sooners will probably have an over/under of 10 for regular season wins. Hard to not take the over. Stoops has a good chance of an overall record of eleven plus wins, which would make it ten times in thirteen years. Think about that stat. He’s looking at his tenth season of 11 wins or more: 11 of 13 is none too shabby.  But before Sooner fans become too haughty with the apparent superiority over their hated brethren south of the red, just remember it was less than a hundred days ago Texas was looking at winning four of its last five against OU and favored to do so. So proceed with care.