It is one of those seasons for Oklahoma.
It is one of those seasons where even a conference championship, even a BCS bowl-game victory, if it doesn't include the prize of a national championship trophy, will feel like failure to the program and the Sooner Nation.
The Sooners were No. 1 in the original BCS rankings last season the first week they were released before promptly losing to Missouri the next Saturday. Another loss to Texas A&M quickly followed. From there, however, OU began to roll, home and away, won the conference title at the Big 12's last championship game and then crushed Connecticut in the Fiesta Bowl.

It is against that backdrop, with so many playmakers and so many returning starters and so many more players with experience returning this season,...

More...