Oklahoma football talent among the best in the nation, according to 247Sports

The Oklahoma football program enters the 2023 season as one of the select teams capable of competing for a national championship.

That’s according to 247Sports, based on a measurement tool it calls the “Blue-Chip Ratio.” BCR, as defined by 247Sports, is “a recruiting metric that measures the overall talent of a team’s lineup by determining the percentage of five- and four-star recruits over four years compared to two- and three-star recruits. .”

Transfers are not taken into account in the Blue-Chip Ratio formula, only middle school and high school recruits are taken into account. The Blue Chip relationship it was created a decade ago by Bud Elliott, an analytics specialist at 247Sports. The theory behind it is pretty simple: the teams that consistently acquire the best talent are in the best position to win a conference championship and the even greater prize of a national championship.

Applying this formula, Elliott lists Oklahoma as one of 16 teams that could actually win a national championship in 2023. The Sooners are tied for No. 7 with Texas, both having 70 percent of their rosters over the last four years consist of five and/or four-star recruits, according to the 247Sports Player Composite – program, which combines player ratings from 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN.

The top five teams in 2023 by BCR are Alabama (90 percent), Ohio State (85), Georgia (77), Texas A&M and Clemson. LSU (71) is sixth, just ahead of the Sooners and Longhorns.

The makeup of this year’s BCR list offers some perspective on the talent war that OU and Texas will find themselves in when they join the SEC in 2024. Four of the top seven are SEC teams.

As a disclaimer, Elliott notes that while “the Blue-Chip Ratio threshold doesn’t guarantee a national championship, a team that doesn’t meet it is almost certainly guaranteed not to win it all.”

Transfers aren’t included in the BCR, but if they were, Oklahoma’s ratio for 2023 would drop to 61 percent, dropping them to 11th.