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For all of you out there who are worried about a new quarterback, and Oklahoma's offensive effectiveness in 2013, you can take a big sigh of relief now. As EA Sports sets to release NCAA Football 2014 they've adopted the theme of "Keep it Real." The idea is to give the game player an even more realistic experience with the video game. To achieve this, they've given the game a major redesign. However, the skeptic may still raise an eyebrow at the "reality" of their team rankings.
EA Sports Team Rankings for Big 12 |
|||
TEAM |
OVERALL |
OFFENSE |
DEFENSE |
90 |
90 |
88 |
|
81 |
81 |
83 |
|
81 |
84 |
78 |
|
86 |
91 |
83 |
|
91 |
97 |
88 |
|
91 |
93 |
92 |
|
84 |
86 |
85 |
|
93 |
95 |
93 |
|
86 |
90 |
83 |
|
84 |
83 |
87 |
Don't get me wrong here. I would love for EA Sports to be spot on, and there's a chance that they could be, in grading Oklahoma's offense. The Sooners return a majority of their offensive line, a stable of running backs, and a young but experienced corps of wide receivers that has explosive speed. It's the trigger man that has many of the skeptics waiting with baited breath though. However, EA Sports seems to have a lot of faith in a guy who has only completed 10 passes in a Sooner uniform.
Perhaps we should learn a valuable lesson from EA Sports on being optimistic. After all, when has Bob Stoops ever failed with a quarterback? Josh Heupel had never thrown a pass in a crimson and cream uniform before taking over the helm of the Sooner offense and neither had Sam Bradford. Yet, both of them led the Sooners to glory in spectacular ways. Jason White and Nate Hyble were unpopular fan choices to start at quarterback and yet won conference championships. Landry Jones was quite possibly the most unpopular most prolific passer that any school has ever seen. Then there's Paul Thompson who transitioned from wide receiver back to quarterback in August of his senior season to lead Oklahoma to the 2006 Big Twelve title. Fact is, every starting quarterback during the Stoops era, except for the one who got kicked out of school, has won a conference championship. What is there to worry about? Thank you EA Sports for keeping it real and putting us in our place.
Now it's your turn to "Keep it Real" in the comments section. Give us your thoughts on Oklahoma's offensive expectations and the quarterback play. We may ask one of you to help us with a follow-up post in the next couple of weeks.