Baylor 2022 Season Preview: Oklahoma Sooners
The Baylor Bears travel to Norman to open up the final month of the regular season. With it, they will also open up their toughest stretch of the season.
The Bears completely outclassed the Sooners at McLane Stadium in 2021, in a tight game the Bears put to bed in the fourth quarter to give Oklahoma their first loss of the season.
This could be their biggest test if the Bears want to be in the discussion for a Big 12 championship and a New Year's 6 bowls.
The Sooners should be comfortable with their new head coach Brent Venables at this point in the season but will need to replace a huge portion of their lineup with the transfer portal fire sale they had last year with Lincoln Riley's departure.
Oklahoma Sooners
2021 Record: 11-2 (7-2 Big 12)
Head Coach: Brent Venables
The Sooners enter a new era in 2022 as Brent Venables comes to Norman from Clemson for his first head coaching job. The wheels fell off the Schooner wagon towards the end of last season, losing to the Bears and rival Oklahoma State in November before Riley jumped ship.
This year is a rebuild, but Sooner style. That said, with the talent and pedigree of the program, they should be right back in the Big 12 mix this season.
Offensive scheme: Spread
Defensive scheme: Hybrid
Returning offensive starters: 5
Like I said, the Sooners always have talent, but they lost a lot of skill and muscle from last year's team, including their top two quarterbacks and running backs. New offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel led one of the nation's best offenses when they worked together in 2019. That said, Dave Aranda and Ron Roberts certainly seemed to have figured out Lebby's offense, based on the dominating defensive performance against Lebby's Ole Miss offense in last year's Sugar Bowl.
Projected offensive starters:
QB Dillon Gabriel
RB Eric Gray
WR Theo Wease
WR Drake Stoops
WR Marvin Mims
TE Brayden Willis
LT Anton Harrison
LG McKade Mettauer
C Andrew Raym
RG Chris Murray
RT Wanya Morris
Returning defensive starters: 4
The returning defensive starters is more glaring evidence of how little experience the Sooners are dealing with in 2022. Only four starters are coming back, with a hybrid style scheme that Venables ran at Clemson, it could take a while for everyone to get on the same page. The Sooners defense had some real stinkers last year (Texas, Oklahoma State) but held the Bears in check for most of the contest. If the Sooners defense has yet to gel by the time these two teams meet in 2022, Blake Shapen could have a field day.
Projected defensive starters:
DE Reggie Grimes
DE Ethan Downs
DT Jalen Redmond
DT Jeffery Johnson
LB DaShaun White
LB Danny Stutsman
LB Shane Whitter
CB Woodi Washington
CB D.J. Graham
S Billy Bowman
S Key Lawrence
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.