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As we all know its never too early to start boning up on your college football knowledge, especially with spring ball right around the corner. With that in mind Collegefootballnews.com is running down some 2009 lookbacks and early 2010 lookaheads and I thought it'd be good for us all to join them. And we're going to start the week with everyone's favorite neighboring state team: the Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma Sooners

2009 Recap: Considering all the drama and all the injury problems, the season wasn’t that bad, but for a program like Oklahoma, the year was a disaster starting with an injury to Sam Bradford’s shoulder in the opener against BYU. The offense couldn’t recover, the defense didn’t come through late, and the Sooners kicked off the year with a loss. Close losses to Texas and Miami overshadowed the wins against the mediocre teams, but OU was still deep in the hunt for the Big 12 South title before hitting a brick wall in a 10-3 loss to Nebraska. In an inconsistent year, which was to be expected with so much turnover and with the loss of Bradford, who tried to come back against Texas but got hurt again, and without star TE Jermaine Gresham, the Sooners were able to blow up on Texas A&M in a 65-10 win, didn’t show up the week after in a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech, and finished off the year with an inspired shutout of Oklahoma State and a Sun Bowl win over Stanford. OU never lost in the state of Oklahoma and outside of the Texas Tech debacle lost four games by a total of 12 points.

Offensive Player of the Year: OT Trent Williams
Defensive Player of the Year: DT Gerald McCoy

Biggest Surprise: Landry Jones. Thrown into the toughest of circumstances, the redshirt freshman came through with a decent year and showed that he might be good enough to be yet another great OU quarterback. He melted down under pressure against Nebraska, throwing five interceptions, and he wasn’t always careful with the ball, but he kept the air game moving even with a ton of turnover in the receiving corps and despite his lack of experience. His 418 yards and three touchdown passes in the Sun Bowl win over Stanford might be the springboard to a good three years to come.

Biggest Disappointment: Bradford’s crunched shoulder. Gresham’s injury happened before the season and it was almost like he had declared early for the NFL, which he should’ve done. But the team planned around the Heisman-winning quarterback, and he was expected to make up for concerns on the line and the overall offensive inexperience. As good as Jones was, it’s not out of line to suggest that a healthy Bradford would’ve been the difference in four of the losses.

Looking Ahead: Reports of the program’s demise might be premature. Boosted by one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, the talent level is still high and now the team is a bit more experienced with eight starters returning on offense led by QB Landry Jones, whose time spent throughout last year was the one positive from the Sam Bradford injury, and RB DeMarco Murray who only seems like he’s been in Norman so long that he once shared a backfield with Billy Sims. The defense loses all-everything DT Gerald McCoy, but it gets back seven starters including LB Travis Lewis and pass rushing star Jeremy Beal. The schedule is interesting with Florida State, at Cincinnati, at Missouri, and at Texas A&M to deal with.

Why to get excited: With the expected emergence of Landry Jones as a more consistent playmaker, the offense should shine. Ryan Broyles is one of the Big 12’s most exciting young receivers and three starters are back on a line that should be better. OU has loaded up on young talent over the last few years and should have several good battles for the openings. If Jones is strong and if the defense plays like it has for the last few years, there’s no reason to shoot for anything less than a Big 12 title.

Why to be grouchy: Oklahoma doesn’t lose in the state of Oklahoma. Ever. However, cross the state lines and this is around a .500 ball club over the last few years. That’s not a plus when there’s a dangerous trip to Cincinnati early on, even if it’s not the same Bearcat team as last year, and with dates at Missouri and Texas A&M over the second half of the year. Throw in the date in Dallas against Texas and there are just enough tough away games, and the team has just enough concerns, to worry about a few losses killing a big year.

The number one thing to work on is: Giveaways. The defense was so good at taking the ball away that the breaks more than evened out, but the offense handed it over way too often. To be fair, Jones wasn’t expected to be stingy with the picks when thrown into the fire, but the 15 interceptions still hurt and need to be lowered. Fumbling was one of the bigger problems, and while the Sooners only lost 11, three came in the loss to Texas and two were against BYU.

Biggest offensive loss: OT Trent Williams
Biggest defensive loss: DT Gerald McCoy
Best returning offensive player: RB DeMarco Murray
Best returning defensive player: LB Travis Lewis

Top Five Prospects
WR Justin McCay 6-3 197 Shawnee, KS
QB Blake Bell 6-6 210 Wichita, KS
RB Roy Finch 5-8 170 Niceville, FL
DB Tony Jefferson 6-0 196 Chula Vista, CA
RB Brennan Clay 6-0 190 San Diego, CA