Predicting Oklahoma's record in 2023: '12-0 is attainable'

On3’s J.D. PicKell recently took an in-depth look into the Oklahoma Sooners 2023 season, giving his record prediction for Brent Venables and Dillon Gabriel in their second year together. And surprising to some, even some Sooners fans, PicKell says he believes the team has a good chance to go undefeated in the regular season.

“So the schedule; it’s not rough. We were going through it here. It’s not necessarily The Hunger Games of a schedule that you’re going to get when you get to the SEC,” said PicKell. “I don’t see Kansas State; I don’t see Texas Tech; I don’t see Baylor. You have a game at BYU, got TCU to end the year. You play Texas, which you always play Texas.”

The schedule does play a big part in PicKell’s reasoning. Oklahoma will not have to face two of the Big 12 programs likely to be competing for the conference title in the Baylor Bears and Texas Tech Red Raiders. But that is only half the story. The other part is the talent gap for both Texas and Oklahoma in comparison to the rest of the conference.

“I think the thing for Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 is they’re both going to have superior rosters for the majority of teams that they play. Like, there’s not going to be a game where Oklahoma walks in and says, ‘Man, they just got better Jimmy’s and Joe’s than us. We gotta out scheme them.’ Outside of the Texas game, that’s not really going to be a question mark. And so, it then lies in the internal side of things: the execution, making the right play, not hurting yourself; like they’re all cliche coach speak. But it’s coach speak and cliche for a reason, probably because it’s got some merit to it; probably because it’s true.”

The college football expert started with his reasons why Oklahoma could go 12-0, but some might not see the picture he’s painting. Still, PicKell continued to make a case for Oklahoma’s perfect regular season. According to PicKell, he’s looking at the Sooners’ season with a glass-half-full mindset.

“For Oklahoma, when I look at the record that I give them, the way that I go in about this, I look at the ceiling. And I don’t see a ceiling for Oklahoma when it comes to this schedule itself. Like 12-0 is attainable. But, for me, there’s some things that are still maturing internally in terms of going from year one to year two. You’re replacing the pieces on the offensive line. I think 10-2 is where I put Oklahoma, but I do believe they’ll find themselves right back in that Big 12 title game.

“With that whole conversation moving into next year, this is your last time in the Big 12. This is your last go around, and you were going to get everybody’s best shot. It’s a little bit of an extra emotional tie to this one. So, 12-0 is attainable. Just understand, with the way this schedule was shaking out, it’s not gonna be necessarily week in, week out you’re playing the Monstars. You’re going to be favored in the majority of these games.

“For Oklahoma, 10-2 is realistic, and I’m excited to see how they fare their last year in the Big 12.”

PicKell believes Oklahoma has a legitimate shot at the Big 12 title game and conference crown in their final season before heading to the SEC with Texas. And if they can go undefeated while capturing the Big 12 title, they could enter their new home conference as national champions too.