Preseason Big 12 Poll | Sooners at the Top By: TFB Posted on: July 17, 2020

SOONERS PICKED TO WIN SIXTH STRAIGHT BIG 12 TITLE

NORMAN — Oklahoma has been selected to win its sixth straight Big 12 championship in 2020, according to media who cover the league. For the eighth time in the 10 years since the Big 12 moved to 10 teams, OU is the choice to win the league championship in a preseason poll released Friday.

Lincoln Riley‘s Sooners, who went 12-2 each of the last three seasons while making College Football Playoff appearances, and who have posted a 27-3 record against Big 12 opponents during that period, garnered 80 of the poll’s 90 first-place votes. OU tallied 888 poll points to outpace second-place Oklahoma State (742 points, six first-place votes) by 146 points. Third-place Texas totaled 727 points (four first-place votes) and was followed by Iowa State (607), Baylor (489), TCU (477), Kansas State (366), West Virginia (287), Texas Tech (267) and Kansas (100).

If Oklahoma wins the 2020 league title, it will mark the Sooners’ 14th such championship in the conference’s 25 years. No other school has won more than three total. Since OU’s first Big 12 title in 2000, no other program has won more than two.

The Sooners return 16 starters from last year’s team that beat Baylor 30-23 in the Big 12 Championship and finished in the top-10 of the AP and coaches polls.

Eight offensive starters are back in 2020, including preseason All-Big 12 picks Charleston Rambo (wide receiver), Creed Humphrey (center) and Adrian Ealy (offensive tackle). A total of five offensive linemen that started at least eight games return, as well as starting tight end/H-Back Jeremiah Hall and running back Kennedy Brooks, who has eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in each of his first two seasons (1,001 and six touchdowns last year).

OU also returns eight starters on the defensive side of the ball, led by preseason All-Big 12 defensive end Ronnie Perkins. Also returning are defensive tackle LaRon Stokes, linebackers DaShaun White and Nik Bonitto and defensive backs Tre Brown, Pat Fields, Brendan Radley-Hiles and Delarrin Turner-Yell. Preseason All-Big 12 placekicker Gabe Brkic, who was the only kicker nationally to convert all of his field goal and PAT attempts (combined 69 for 69) last year, also returns as does punter Reeves Mundschau.