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Oklahoma Debuts at No. 9 in AP Top 25

The Sooners haven't started a season this low since 2015, when Lincoln Riley was hired by Bob Stoops to breathe life into the offense.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma Debuts at No. 9 in AP Top 25
Oklahoma Debuts at No. 9 in AP Top 25 /
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Oklahoma debuted at No. 9 Monday in the 2022 Associated Press Preseason Top 25.

It's the lowest ranking for OU to start the season since 2015, when the Sooners were coming off an 8-5 season and Bob Stoops brought on Lincoln Riley from East Carolina to coordinate the offense. Oklahoma finished that season ranked No. 5.

There is similar skepticism about OU's chances this season as Brent Venables takes over for Riley.

OU is ranked as high as No  5 and as low as No. 21 in this year’s preseason poll, but does appear on all 63 ballots.

The Sooners have been ranked in the top seven in each of the previous six preseason polls. OU hasn’t been outside the top seven since 2015, when the Sooners started the season ranked No. 19. OU also started No. 16 in 2013.

Before that, OU’s only recent start outside the top 10 came in 2000, when Stoops’ second team began at No. 19 and went on to win the national championship.

In its history, OU has been ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll 10 times — more than any other program, just ahead of Alabama with nine — and the Sooners went on to win the national championship four times in those seasons (1956, 1974, 1975, 1985).

Oklahoma also won national titles when they started at No. 6 (1950), No. 2 (1955), and No. 19 (2000).

The Sooners also debuted at No. 9 last week in the USA Today Coaches Top 25.

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See the full AP Top 25 here:

Alabama received 54 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and is the overwhelming pick for No. 1 in the nation. Ohio State got six first-place votes and comes at No. 2,. And Georgia got three first-place votes to open the season at No. 3

Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Utah and Michigan come in ahead of OU as well. Baylor rounds out the top 10, while Oregon is No. 11 and Oklahoma State is the only other current Big 12 team at No. 12.

Riley’s USC team — 4-8 last season — is ranked 14th.

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John E. Hoover
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.

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