Oklahoma Football: Who Can Halt the Sooner Stampede?

With the University of Oklahoma football team still in the middle of spring practice, the spring game yet to be played and followed by an agonizing three and a half month wait for fall practice to begin, it is only natural to start anticipating the program's eighth national championship that will be awarded in January of 2012.

After all, the Team in Crimson and Cream is expected to open the season as the top-ranked squad in the country. Next season is just a formality, right?

Hold on there, champ. While it is true that Oklahoma will once again field one of the most talented and experienced teams in the land, they must still defeat 12 regular season opponents to have the opportunity to be crowned king in the first place.

So which of these hapless victims could ruin the celebration, crash the party and pee in the punch?

A quick look shows eight team on the schedule that played in a bowl last year, with four of them emerging victorious.

A further breakdown reveals that while six games will be played in the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium, where the Sooners boast the nation's longest home winning streak and Stoops' Troops have only lost twice in 12 seasons, OU does have to make travel arrangements for the other half of the season.

Most Sooner fans are aware that away from home their favorite team hasn't been nearly as dominant.

So, assuming history holds true and Oklahoma sweeps their games in Norman (highly likely), that leaves these six road trips as the most likely stumbling blocks on the path to perfection.

These six road games are as follows:

9/17 at Florida State, 2010 record 10-4 and favorite to win the ACC in 2011.

10/8 at Dallas for the Red River Rivalry against an embarrassed Texas team that stumble to 5-7 record in 2010 and missed a bowl game for the first time in 13 seasons under Mack Brown.

10/15 at Kansas, 2010 record of 3-9 and virtually no chance of beating the Sooners, even at home.

10/29 at Kansas State, 2010 record of 7-6 and with Stoop's mentor Bill Snyder back in charge.

11/19 at Baylor, 2010 record of 7-6 and returning with much of the cast of the Robert Griffin III show.

11/26 at Oklahoma State for Bedlam, 2010 record of 11-2 and the most wins in school history.

Only one of these games is as close to a sure thing as you can get in this world and that is in Lawrence against Kansas.

Both K-State and Baylor are long shots but they do have a chance if things go just right for them and they catch the Sooners on a really bad day.

Texas is a mystery. The Longhorns imploded after starting the season ranked in the top three and finished with four home losses. While it is highly unlikely that UT can turn it around in one season and take down Oklahoma, this is the Red River Rivalry and stranger things have happened.

That leaves us just two games to seriously consider for a potential Sooner 'pantsing': FSU and Bedlam.

Florida State is riding high on confidence after reaching the ACC title game in coach Jimbo Fisher's first season and defeating SEC East champ South Carolina in the Chick Fil-A Bowl.

With top players coming back, an infusion of talent from a highly-ranked recruiting class and Bob Stoops' younger brother Mark in charge of the defense, the trip to Tallahassee to face the Seminoles will not be a Sooner Schooner stampede like it was in Norman in 2010.

This game is reminiscent of the trip to Miami in 2009 to face the Hurricanes. The Sooners destroyed Miami in 2007 but were beaten by a single point on the return trip of the home and home series.

A few things that the Sooners will have going for them in Tallahassee that they sorely lacked in Miami will be, barring the same types of injuries that plagued them in 2009, an experienced quarterback, receivers and offensive line.

The game in Stillwater is also intriguing. Oklahoma State hosts Bedlam for the second consecutive year due to the new Big 12 round-robin schedule.

I'm sure that Sooner fans are well aware of the late game heroics that allowed Oklahoma to escape Pickens Stadium with the victory and the spot in the final Big 12 Championship game.

Be honest, who wasn't sweating it out at the end? That game had more drama and crazy moments than a Charlie Sheen webcast.

While Oklahoma has won eight in row and pretty much dominated the Cowboys since the beginning of time, playing against Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon in Stillwater for two straight seasons will be no picnic. All streaks are broken eventually.

Oklahoma State is fresh off an overachieving 11-win season and might be better next year. Even with a hobbled foot, Biletnikoff award-winner Blackmon still managed to snare a TD and over 100 yards receiving against a solid Sooner secondary that now looks like it could be replacing three out of the four starters from last year.

However, if you will recall, OSU managed to keep the game close with two returns for touchdowns, one on an interception and the other on a kickoff. Without those two scores, the Sooners would have been comfortably ahead for most of the game.

So the question is, which of these two games poses the biggest threat to a Sooner undefeated season and yet another shot at a national championship? Both of these teams have the potential to ambush the Sooner Schooner and leave Sooner fans wondering "What if?"