"Let's pretend you were in Shreveport, Louisiana on Dec 31, 1999." (I ACTUALLY WAS THERE AS A LITTLE BOY!) "You've just watched Oklahoma lose 27-25 to an average Mississippi team to finish the season 7-5. Despite this bowl loss, it was a good year for the Sooners, especially after coming off of 5 consecutive non-winning years. Your friend says to you, "I guarantee you Oklahoma will win the National Title in 2000." Your first thought is your friend has "over-celebrated" New Year's Eve. Next year Oklahoma would have just 13 returning starters and face a schedule that included the 3 powerhouses of the Big 12 (Nebraska, Kansas State, Texas) all away from home. The Sooners entered the year as a 50-1 shot to win the National Title and were ranked #19. When the dust cleared they simply stood at the top of the heap over all of the other 115 Division IA teams and were the only undefeated team. Impressive indeed! They did have some solid factors going for them in 2000 like exceptionally good health (0 starters missed a game due to injury), a solid QB and a super defense. Your first reaction was this Cinderella story is a one-time ting. However, teams have reached the top and have been big surprises almost every year, and yes, sometimes they bag the National Title despite not being one of the top-ranked teams coming into the season. Oklahoma was not the only Surprise Team of 2000. Oregon State was unranked coming in, and much like the Sooners, stayed remarkably injury free. They also benefitted from +18 turnovers to finish #4 (AP) with a super 11-1 season including a blowout win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Health and turnovers had a big impact that year."
My 2015 #6 Surprise Team:
"The Oklahoma Sooners are the ones that gave me the idea for this article in the first place. That was back in 2000 when they went from #19 in the preseason to National Champs. The only other time since then that OU was not ranked in the Top Ten (and they have been preseason Top 5 nine times in that span) was in 2013 and they finished #6 that year. This year OU won't even be favored to win the Big 12 and figures barely to make the top 25. In the paragraph to the left I mention the REBOUND teams. Oklahoma was the most disappointing team last year opening #4 and finishing unranked. My main set of power ratings has them in the top 10 as the offense should get much better QB play in the new offense and they are loaded in the skill positions with a solid OL. The defense is full of play makers and all 8 positions rank in my top units! They have some tough Big 12 road games like Baylor, Kansas St, and Oklahoma St and have to travel to Tennessee outside of Big 12 play but have enough talent to win those if they are rolling."
The 2015 Surprise Teams (These are the 14 teams that have a legitimate shot at stunning the NCAA much like Oklahoma did in 2000):
1 Stanford
2 LSU
3 Notre Dame
4 Wisconsin
5 UCLA
6 Oklahoma
7 Virginia Tech
8 Penn State
9 Clemson
10 Mississippi
11 Nebraska
12 Missouri
13 Oklahoma State
14 Miami (FL)
My 2015 #6 Surprise Team:
"The Oklahoma Sooners are the ones that gave me the idea for this article in the first place. That was back in 2000 when they went from #19 in the preseason to National Champs. The only other time since then that OU was not ranked in the Top Ten (and they have been preseason Top 5 nine times in that span) was in 2013 and they finished #6 that year. This year OU won't even be favored to win the Big 12 and figures barely to make the top 25. In the paragraph to the left I mention the REBOUND teams. Oklahoma was the most disappointing team last year opening #4 and finishing unranked. My main set of power ratings has them in the top 10 as the offense should get much better QB play in the new offense and they are loaded in the skill positions with a solid OL. The defense is full of play makers and all 8 positions rank in my top units! They have some tough Big 12 road games like Baylor, Kansas St, and Oklahoma St and have to travel to Tennessee outside of Big 12 play but have enough talent to win those if they are rolling."
The 2015 Surprise Teams (These are the 14 teams that have a legitimate shot at stunning the NCAA much like Oklahoma did in 2000):
1 Stanford
2 LSU
3 Notre Dame
4 Wisconsin
5 UCLA
6 Oklahoma
7 Virginia Tech
8 Penn State
9 Clemson
10 Mississippi
11 Nebraska
12 Missouri
13 Oklahoma State
14 Miami (FL)
