The curious part about this is that one of touted strengths of the Oklahoma team is also one of their weaknesses - retention and departures.
One thing on which the Sooners could count last year was Paul Thompson bailing them out with a big pass play. That option is gone.
One thing they also could count on was a pretty miserly defense. True, the majority of their secondary returns - all 4 starters in fact - but the job of that secondary was made much easier by a very effective pass rush. That pass rush is gone. Even so that touted secondary ranked 41st in the nation in pass D. One other statistic - Oklahoma gave up under 100 yards per game on the ground ground. That is pretty damned good in anyone's book. This is less than you might expect given the Sooners touted secondary. It may be difficult to replicate given the departed and disruptive defensive tackles and ends - not to forget the departed LB duo headed by Alexander.
The five defensive departures described above make me wonder if a real linchpin of any completely successful Stoops team will be there this year - a stout defense, ranked in the top 20 or better on both sides of the ball.
The BP opinion is pretty well split, and that is much more meaningful to me.
