ESPN ranks OU No. 1 in latest Top 25

As other teams endure significant personnel losses, the Sooners return starters all over the field and figure to battle with Iowa State once again for Big 12 supremacy

John E. Hoover | May 4, 2021

Coming out of spring practice, at least, ESPN has pegged Oklahoma as its latest No. 1-ranked college football team in 2021.

In a Top 25 compiled by ESPN writer Mark Schlabach, OU is No. 1, Alabama is No. 2, Georgia is No. 3, Clemson is No. 4 and Ohio State is No. 5.

Big 12 runner-up Iowa State, which beat the Sooners in Ames last year, is No. 6, and Texas, with new coach Steve Sarkisian at the helm, is No. 22.

“Which team might be best equipped to reach the CFP?” Schlabach asks. “Oklahoma, which hasn't won a national championship since 2000 and has lost three straight CFP semifinal games to SEC opponents under coach Lincoln Riley.

“The Sooners, who bring back quarterback Spencer Rattler and seven starters from an improving defense, are No. 1 in the latest version of the 2021 Top 25 — ahead of Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State.”

Here’s what Schlabach wrote about the Sooners:

1. Oklahoma Sooners

2020 record: 9-2 (6-2 Big 12)

Projected returning starters: seven offense, seven defense, two special teams

Key losses: OT Adrian Ealy, C Creed Humphrey, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, DE Ronnie Perkins, CB Tre Brown, DB Tre Norwood, WR Charleston Rambo

Key additions: RB Kennedy Brooks, WR Mario Williams Jr., OT Savion Byrd

Previous Way-Too-Early ranking: 3

Outlook: The Sooners are looking to end a 21-year drought without a national championship, and coach Lincoln Riley is trying to guide his team to a victory in a CFP game after losing three in a row. OU has more than enough playmakers on offense and its defense might be just good enough to do it, especially with a more-than-manageable nonconference schedule.

The Sooners have offered us a glimpse of what the FBS might look like in an everybody-can-transfer world. Since the end of last season, Riley deftly added six FBS transfers, including three players from Tennessee: running back Eric Gray, offensive tackle Wanya Morris and defensive back Key Lawrence. Each of the former Vols might start for OU this coming season.

OU just recently added former Arkansas receiver Mike Woods, who might help compensate for the loss of Rambo, who departed for Miami. Woods and freshman Mario Williams, who had a team-high five catches for 84 yards in the spring game, should help a receiver corps that was plagued by drops in 2020.

Riley grabbed former Penn State quarterback Micah Bowens after backups Tanner Mordecai and Chandler Morris transferred to SMU and TCU, respectively. Bowens will battle freshman quarterback Caleb Williams for the backup job behind Spencer Rattler; Williams completed 10 of 11 passes for 99 yards with one score and ran for 61 yards in the spring game.

Published May 4, 2021

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.