Oklahoma Football: 5 reasons why the Sooners will stink in 2017

The Oklahoma Sooners carry a top 10 ranking into yet another college football season. Here are five reasons why they will not live up to that ranking.

The Oklahoma Sooners face more uncertainty entering the 2017 campaign than in any season in recent memory. Legendary head coach Bob Stoops is out and will be replaced by former offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. While Riley will likely become successful with the Sooners, he’ll take some time to get adjusted to the pressure and the spotlight that comes with coaching a team with this much expectation year in and year out.

Having a quarterback like Baker Mayfield eases the transition for any new head coach. The next man up, Kyler Murray, might be almost as good as Mayfield also. Oklahoma likely gets some combination of Mayfield and Murray for the next three years.

However, the rest of the depth chart does not look as promising for the Sooners. The offensive line should be solid, led by junior left tackle Orlando Brown. The receiving corps is not as encouraging. Much of the hopes for Mayfield with his receivers lies with tight end Mark Andrews. If Andrews does not come through then Mayfield is left out to dry.

The Big 12, as a whole, has quite a bit of competition at the top. Aside from the Sooners, the Kansas State Wildcats, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and West Virginia Mountaineers all pose real threats to dethrone OU. The Texas Longhorns also have quite the hype train built up behind first-year head coach Tom Herman and sophomore quarterback Shane Buechele. The teams that seem most likely to take down the Sooners are Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the two highest-ranked teams in the Coaches Poll in the Big 12 behind OU.

Oklahoma is the obvious choice for Big 12 favorite since they have won back-to-back conference championships with Mayfield at the helm. Now, let’s take a look at the opposite point of view and five reasons why the Sooners will stink in 2017.