College Football Preview: Stoops has high hopes for Sooners in 2014

It’s been a while since the Oklahoma Sooners have truly contested for a national championship. It appears that changes this season (beginning with last year’s Sugar Bowl upset against Alabama) for Coach Bob Stoops and his squad.

He said, “They’re not sitting back thinking about that and not doing what they need to do moving forward. I think, more than anything, it’s made them hungrier to build on it and to keep improving.”

Considering there are 16 returning starts for the Sooner which last year were 11-2 (7-2 Big 12), the team has plenty of experience to help sophomore quarterback Trevor Knight. Leading the charge will be running backs Keith Ford and Alex Ross, as well as wide receiver Sterling Shepard and tight end Blake Bell. There is plenty of offensive firepower on this team.

On the defensive side of the ball, nine starters return. The biggest of which is the team’s front seven, which boasts first-team All-Big 12 junior defensive end Charles Tapper and Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Dominique Alexander. There’s also defensive end Geneo Grissom, linebackers Eric Strikerand and Frank Shannon, and Freshman All-American corner Zack Sanchez

Invariably, The Sooners have their eye on the first ever College Football Playoff.

ODDS to win the National Championship: 12/1