Mayfield and Murray were Mount Rushmore talents and gave OU the best 4 years of quarterbacking in OU's history and Hurts following in 2019 capped off a five year run of quarterbacking excellence at OU. That was two Heisman winners and a near miss winner from three elite transfers.
The greatness of these three QB's covered the main weakness by those Sooner teams, which was on defense and the postseason meltdowns exposed how OU was built on outscoring opponents' offenses than containing opponents' offenses....and it always resulted in two-loss seasons which included postseason failures.
Rattler is a good player, but he comes at a time when the defensive talent is either unproven or less talented (from an already porous unit)....and his offensive unit has been diminished by graduation, early exits to the NFL, injuries, transfers and suspensions.
I think Texas will decide a lot of things about the 2020 season. I see OU facing a very important time now on how the season plays out and how recruiting will be capped off.
The potential of a 2-win season exists and if OU loses on Saturday, giving the team three conference losses, Riley, fairly or unfairly, has to prove himself all over again.
I do not doubt that Riley has the ability to right the ship, but how this season plays out and how recruiting goes and what changes are made this off season will tell a lot in which direction the OU program is headed. My best guess is there may be at least one change on the staff, 2 or 3 junior college players come in, and Caleb Williams and Chandler Morris get every opportunity to start. I like Mordecai's potential but I think he gets squeezed out of the mix and transfers. And I think Chandler Morris is a hidden gem who will play well on the college level....somewhere.