{"id":59832,"date":"2024-07-08T17:30:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T22:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=59832"},"modified":"2024-07-08T17:30:24","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T22:30:24","slug":"paul-finebaum-no-doubt-oklahoma-is-on-the-path-back-as-they-enter-sec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/paul-finebaum-no-doubt-oklahoma-is-on-the-path-back-as-they-enter-sec\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum: \u2018No doubt\u2019 Oklahoma is on the path back as they enter SEC"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of question marks about the Oklahoma<\/a><\/strong> program after Lincoln Riley<\/a><\/strong> left for USC<\/a><\/strong>. But as the Sooners enter their first season in the SEC, the program appears to be back on the rise.<\/p>\n

Brent Venables<\/a><\/strong> led Oklahoma to 10 wins in Year 2 in Norman, including a victory over rival Texas<\/a><\/strong>. Oklahoma will be in the SEC for the first time in 2024, and Paul Finebaum believes the Sooners are ready to compete.<\/p>\n

Texas is the former Big 12 power that everyone is talking about, but Finebaum cautions to not forget about OU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019re that far behind,\u201d Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning<\/a>. \u201cNow again, sometimes you can get a little too close to the sun. But I sensed genuine confidence from Brent Venables a week ago when we talked to him. I think that showed in Joe Castiglione\u2019s decision to reward him after only two years, including one bad year. I think from a recruiting standpoint they\u2019re on their way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oklahoma signed top-10 recruiting classes in 2023 and 2024, according to the On3 Industry rankings<\/a>. And the Sooners currently hold the No. 9 class for 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Venables has also done an excellent job of bringing in talent from the transfer portal. The Sooners have a brutal schedule in 2024, but Finebaum believes OU will have no problem competing in the SEC for years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took a bump and a hit after Lincoln Riley left. They had to reprogram the entire place, reboot it. \u2026 From a vibes standpoint I think the program, I think this year if they can land somewhere between 8-4 and 9-3 they\u2019ll be OK, considering their schedule,\u201d Finebaum said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t have any doubt Oklahoma is clearly on the way back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Finebaum predicts Lincoln Riley will be out at USC at the end of 2024 season<\/h2>\n

As for former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, Finebaum isn\u2019t nearly as high on him. In fact, he predicted Monday that this will be Riley\u2019s final season at USC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of wishing him bad luck out there \u2013 that\u2019s already happening. And if you look at the reality, the number of players that are bailing on Lincoln Riley in Southern California is startling,\u201d Finebaum said. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought he was a good coach, especially on the offensive side. But I don\u2019t think anybody today views him in that same realm. And quite frankly, I think he\u2019ll be out of Southern Cal at the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is a bold prediction from Finebaum about a coach who a couple of years ago was being mentioned as one of the best in the nation.<\/p>\n

However, Finebaum believes Lincoln Riley is in a downward spin now and won\u2019t be able to recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of whether he crashes and burns or he decides he\u2019s got to seek elsewhere, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any way he\u2019s going to be successful out there. I think that train has pulled out of the station,\u201d Finebaum said. \u201cAnd if indeed that happens, this is one of the most historic crash and burns in the history of college football.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause five years ago Lincoln Riley was literally considered among the top three or four coaches in the country. Every time the Cowboys job came along everybody feared he would leave. But he made a disastrous decision, I think, in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Paul Finebaum: \u2018No doubt\u2019 Oklahoma is on the path back as they enter SEC<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were plenty of question marks about the Oklahoma program after Lincoln Riley left for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59859,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59832\/revisions\/59859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}