Oklahoma Football: Ranking Sooners’ 2020 opponents by toughness

Chris Klieman did a solid job in his first season with Kansas State, going 8-5 with a program he inherited from Bill Snyder. There’s still room for improvement, but that was a fantastic finish.

Like it has been in recent years, however, Kansas State’s offense was anemic, finishing 103rd nationally in total yardage. This side of the ball returns just two starters, however, including emerging quarterback Skylar Thompson for his senior year. Improvement is on the way.

On defense, this team ranked 44th nationally and returns seven starters, but losing Scottie Hazelton to Michigan State hurts. The Wildcats may take a minor step back this season, but it still won’t be a cakewalk matchup for the Sooners.

From one team with a second-year head coach in charge to another, West Virginia is also trending in the right direction under former Troy coach Neal Brown.

The Mountaineers went just 5-7 in year one, but progress was shown and the emergence of Jarret Doege at quarterback was huge for the immediate future. That solves a lot of problems on offense and will get this team out of the cellar of the Big 12.

West Virginia will be an extremely tough matchup on the road which is why I ranked the Mountaineers just ahead of Kansas State.