Bill Connelly explains Oklahoma's 2024 season outlook

Shortly after ESPN revealed their ‘way too early top 25 rankings’ for the 2024 college ball season, ahead of the start of spring ball practice, the SEC Network’s Mouth of the South, Paul Finebaum, brought on Bill Connelly. Connelly’s SP+rankings are slated to drop soon, which is why he joined Finebaum in sharing his thoughts on the makeup of the SEC’s inaugural season with 16 teams after adding Texas and Oklahoma.

Connelly wasn’t shy about highlighting who would be the top teams in the conference next season, going with the choices of Georgia and Texas at first and second. But how do things settle behind those two? According to Connelly, it is anyone’s guess. However, he does see the Sooners making a strong case in their first year in the conference as one of the top three programs in 2024.

“They’re gonna be right there in the teens, as well, and it makes perfect sense. Their defense is going to be far more experienced this coming season, and it already improved at least a little bit last season,” said Connelly.

While Connelly sees Oklahoma as a strong competitor in the SEC in 2024, he does believe that there is some concern. The ESPN college football writer does believe that the Sooners will lean on their defense, the calling card of their head coach, Brent Venables. However, their offense may be lacking, especially after the departure of last year’s starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel.

“Offense is a kind of a question mark. Obviously, you lose Dillon Gabriel, you lose your offensive coordinator. The talent they have in place as replacements, it looks good on paper. But it’s going to be an interesting spot for them as they get better defensively, but try to fend off getting worse offensively. That’s going to dictate whether they have top-10 potential or merely top-30 or something.”

Is Arnold the answer at QB for Oklahoma?

Gabriel wasn’t a part of Oklahoma’s impressive 38-24 Alamo Bowl victory over Arizona. Leading Oklahoma to the win in that contest was quarterback Jackson Arnold.

Now, the game did not start out the way Arnold and Oklahoma would have liked, as he threw an interception on the Sooners’ opening drive. Still, it definitely finished with some significant promise for the future of the program under the direction of the young and talented quarterback.

The former five-star recruit out of the 2023 class had his share of struggles against one of the top defenses in college football in 2023. However, he still finished the game, completing 26 of his 45 pass attempts for 361 yards and two passing touchdowns. But in order for Arnold to help Oklahoma and Venables achieve their goal of being competitive in the SEC and competing for a national championship, he will have to tone it down on the turnovers after throwing three interceptions against Arizona.