2017 Look Ahead: Oklahoma at Ohio State

One of college football's oldest adages is that if you've got a quarterback, you've got a chance.

As Oklahoma eyes its 2017 campaign, one could certainly lump the Sooners into that realm. Though it is not like Baker Mayfield is running around by himself — just without essentially every skill player that scored points last season for Bob Stoops.

When Ohio State ran rampant in Norman, Oklahoma, last September, the Sooners fell off the map on a national scope. Having lost two of their first three games of the season — the other being to Houston and Tom Herman in the opener — pundits wondered if it were time for the administration to really think about moving on from Stoops. Then all he did was win the Big 12 for the 10th time in his 18th season as head coach.

Behind Mayfield, Oklahoma won 10 straight games to close its season ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll — one spot ahead of Ohio State. The Sooner ripped through Auburn in the Sugar Bowl 35-19 and played some wild affairs while going 8-0 in the Big 12, namely against Texas Tech, TCU and West Virginia.

Oklahoma turned into one of the most dangerous teams in college football by season's end and after Urban Meyer and Co. left Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with a 21-point victory. The team's return trip to Columbus isn't far off, the second game of the season and set to be an under the lights affair with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff from The Horseshoe on ABC.

The Buckeyes will have two extra days to prepare for the Sooners after starting their 2017 slate at Indiana on Thursday, Aug. 31, another night game. Oklahoma opens against UTEP at home. Mayfield's punishment for his February arrest in Arkansas after a drunken night that ended in him attempting to flee from cops remains unknown. The quarterback's attorney pled not guilty on his behalf on April 7. His next court date has not yet been determined, though Mayfield could come to some sort of agreement with the local prosecutors outside a courtroom.

Stoops said this spring he would wait to drop discipline on Mayfield for the incident until the legal process concludes, though the chances he suspends his star player for the Ohio State game are slim. While we wait to see if that happens, let get to know the Sooners a bit more.

Offense

As mentioned before, the favorites to win the Big 12 have one extremely important piece back in quarterback Baker Mayfield. Every top offensive weapon Mayfield and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley had at their disposal in 2016 are now in the NFL, however.

Running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon and wide receiver Dede Westbrook all no longer wear the Crimson and Cream. The latter and Mayfield were both 2016 Heisman Trophy finalists, finishing fourth and third, respectively. Westbrook caught 80 passes for 1,524 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2016, while Mixon finished second on the team with 37 catches and 538 yards. He and Perine combined for 2,334 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns last season.

Put it all together and Westbrook, Mixon and Perine combine for 2,435 rushing and 2,168 receiving yards and 45 touchdowns in 2016.

Yeah, that's a lot.

Still, Stoops and Riley get Mayfield back for another season after the NCAA granted the Texas Tech transfer another year of eligibility. He also has his entire offensive line back for another year, including Big 12 Lineman of the Year Orlando Brown. The redshirt junior left tackle has started every game the last two years and the other four offensive linemen for the Sooners received honorable mention All-Big 12 nods in 2016. So Mayfield's jersey should stay clean and whoever runs the ball will have plenty of help up front.

Who actually does, though, remains the question. Without Perine and Mixon, two guys who averaged 106 rushing yards per game apiece last year, sophomore Abdul Adams is the leading returning rusher with 283 yards and zero touchdowns. Those numbers came late in easy wins against Louisiana-Monroe and Kansas.

Rodney Anderson is another sophomore at running back who could team up with Adams to try and form another one-two punch at the position, provided he stays healthy. A former 4-star recruit and freak athlete, Anderson broke his leg in the second game of his career and suffered a neck injury during training camp last fall that knocked him out the entire year. He spent the entire spring in a green, non-contact jersey after wearing a neck brace for the 2016 season and now is someone Stoops and Mayfield hope to depend on against Ohio State and beyond.

Tight end/wide receiver/H-back Mark Andrews is the team's leading returning pass-catcher. He caught one of his seven touchdowns last season against Ohio State late in the third quarter but the deficit from Noah Brown crushing their souls proved too much for the Sooners to overcome.

Seniors Jeffery Mead and Jordan Smallwood and juniors A.D. Miller (scored against Ohio State too) and Dahu Green all played significant snaps last season but now must step into larger roles with Westbrook gone. Stoops also added transfer Jeff Badet from Kentucky and former JUCO star Marquise Brown. The No. 2-rated JUCO receiver in the 2017 class, Brown is listed at 5-foot-11 and 157 pounds. But he's a fun talent.

Whenever the Sooners needed someone to do something amazing during conference play, Mayfield almost always looked toward Westbrook. He needs someone else to step up and has a bunch of options.

Oklahoma led the Big 12 in offensive efficiency, explosive plays, scoring and was second in total offense last season. Yes, the conference is extremely offense-friendly but some of the numbers were absurd. A good bulk of them that production is gone, leaving Mayfield, an extremely strong offensive line, a great mind in Riley and young threats in the backfield to pick up the pieces for a title contender.

Defense

Defenses are more than afterthoughts in the Big 12. You don't need to look past Oklahoma's ridiculous 66-59 victory at Texas Tech, where the teams combined for a NCAA record 1,708 offensive yards, to see that point illustrated.

The Sooners also allowed 331 rushing yards to West Virginia's Justin Crawford in a 56-28 victory. Stats like that make you believe Mayfield, Riley, Stoops and the offense said, "The hell with it. Let's just outscore everybody."

That's pretty much what Oklahoma did to win the Big 12 last season. As conference favorites once again, though, the Sooners need to improve from allowing nearly 29 points and 432 yards per game.

Mike Weber ran for 123 yards at Oklahoma last season.

To do so, Mike Stoops is shifting back to more of a 4-3 base defense to better fit his personnel. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo is set to play a flex/Jack linebacker for the Sooners, with the ability to move around and line up in different areas to cause opposing quarterbacks headaches. Okoronkwo led his team with nine sacks in 2016 — no other player had more than 2.5.

Linebacker Jordan Evans (second last year with 10 tackles for loss) now plays for the Bengals and another defensive lineman, Austin Roberts, is also gone. There is plenty of experience in the front seven, however, so one would think the group would take a step forward this fall.

The same goes for the secondary despite losing safety Ahmad Thomas. Steven Parker, Will Johnson and corner Jordan Thomas all return after breaking up 28 passes last season. Injuries forced the Stoops brothers to turn to youth at corner, which J.T. Barrett and Noah Brown took advantage of all night in Norman. The freshman Brown caught touchdowns over twice last year, Parrish Cobb, is no longer with the program after a series of arrests for armed robbery.

Stoops's defense has plenty of formidable pieces back and has recruited well. But the Sooners haven't really ever been able to find the level success on that side of the ball since Brent Venables left for Clemson after the 2011 season.

Oklahoma allowed at least 17 points in every single game last year except against Kansas when the Sooners trucked the Jayhawks 56-3. Kansas finished 2-10 last season.

Ohio State's offense under new coordinator Kevin Wilson and quarterbacks coach Ryan Day should decidedly be better than a year ago, at least throwing the ball. The Sooners still gave up 45 points and 443 total yards to the Buckeyes, though.

But the Sooners really have nowhere to go but up on defense.

One of the 2017 college football season's marquee nonconference games, Oklahoma-Ohio State is set to help decide the sports postseason picture once again. It did last season, as Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes became the biggest fans of the Sooners after beating them in Week 3.

Oklahoma's 10-game winning streak to close the season represented a massive reason Ohio State reached the College Football Playoff despite not even playing for the Big Ten Championship. Both teams should enter this matchup unbeaten, and whoever comes out on top will all but certainly find themselves ranked in the top-5.