Oklahoma Sooners

Football

LB Curtis Lofton

Sooners Preseason No. 8 in AP Poll

Oklahoma opens season in AP top 10 for seventh consecutive year.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma opened at No. 8 in the preseason Associated Press poll released Saturday.
 
The defending Big 12 champs were one of four conference teams in the top 25 including Texas (4), Nebraska (20) and Texas A&M (25). Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech received votes.
 
2007 marks the seventh consecutive season the Sooners have been ranked preseason top-10 in the AP poll.
 
Oklahoma has a prolific history with the AP poll since the service began in 1936. The Sooners have been ranked in the top five for 342 weeks, more than any other team. Oklahoma and Notre Dame are tied with the most weeks ranked No. 1 at 95.
 
The Sooners were also ranked No. 8 in the coaches' poll released on August 3rd.
 
The Sooners open the 2007 season against North Texas at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on September 1. Fox Sports Net (FSN) has the television broadcast scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
2007 AP Preseason Poll
1. USC (62) - 1,622
2. LSU (2) -1,511
3. West Virginia (1) - 1,396
4. Texas - 1,375
5. Michigan - 1,371
6. Florida - 1,276
7. Wisconsin - 1,192
8. Oklahoma - 1,166
9. Virginia Tech - 1,148
10. Louisville - 1,031
11. Ohio State - 876
12. California - 790
13. Georgia - 782
14. UCLA - 605
15. Tennessee - 571
16. Rutgers - 560
17. Penn State - 542
18. Auburn - 519
19. Florida State - 392
20. Nebraska - 377
21. Arkansas - 376
22. TCU - 283
23. Hawaii - 256
24. Boise State - 187
25. Texas A&M - 162
 
(AP Release) - The battle for Big 12 supremacy starts in the South -- again.

Three of the Big 12's four teams in The Associated Press preseason rankings released Saturday are in the South Division, which has produced the league champion seven times in the league's first 11 seasons in existence.

If the rankings hold true to form, expect the No. 4 Texas Longhorns or No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners to win the division -- again. And should either of them manage to go undefeated and win the conference title, it could earn a chance to play for the national championship.

"We're proud of everything we've built and the hard work our guys are putting in but also realize that like our team motto for this year, this group has to earn the right to be ranked that high," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "We need to be sure the guys understand that where you finish at the end of the year is important; where you rank at the first of the year is simply respect."

Nebraska is the only North Division team in the rankings at No. 20. The Cornhuskers won the division last season but lost to the Sooners in the conference title game.

Texas A&M rounds out the top 25 at No. 25.

Texas, which opens the season Sept. 1 against Arkansas State, is led by sophomore quarterback Colt McCoy and a corps of talented and experience receivers.

McCoy tied an NCAA freshman record last season with 29 touchdown passes. The biggest question mark for Texas this year is shoring up a defense that ranked among the best against the run but was awful in pass coverage.

The Sooners are aiming for their fifth Big 12 title under coach Bob Stoops, whose must find a quarterback as Sam Bradford, Joey Halzle and Keith Nichol battle for the job. The Sooners also must replace super tailback Adrian Peterson, who left after his junior season for the NFL.

The Aggies could mess up everything for the Longhorns and Sooners if they can survive a rugged schedule. A&M beat the Longhorns on the road and narrowly lost to Oklahoma at home last season. A win over the Sooners in Norman on Nov. 3 could set up a South Division showdown with Texas at Kyle Field the day after Thanksgiving.

But that schedule is a huge obstacle with road trips to Texas Tech, Nebraska, OU and Missouri, a team lurking just outside the rankings and one of the favorites in the North. Throw in a Thursday night road trip to Miami in September and the Aggies could be struggling.

At Nebraska, Cornhuskers fans are still waiting for their first league title since 1999, which must seem like an eternity at a program used to playing for national titles. The Cornhuskers have lost no fewer than four games every year under coach Bill Callahan and fans are getting restless.

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