Walking out of last year’s FedEx BCS National Championship in Miami left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Sooner Nation.

Like so many OU fans who had left Miami’s Pro Player Stadium only five years before, last year’s fans left without the sweet taste of victory.

It was the taste of defeat. Again.

After watching “The Chosen One” Tim Tebow and the Gators win their second national championship in three years, many were left in the dark as to where the Sooners program was to turn.

Then it happened.

Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, along with teammates Trent Williams, Gerald McCoy and Jermaine Gresham, all decided to come back to school.

Suddenly, OU football was poised and ready for a run at the school’s eighth national championship.

Tuesday marked the Sooners turn to take the podium at Big 12 Media Days in Irving, Texas, signaling the start of a new season.

“It’s been a great summer to get away and spend some time with your family. I hope the players have been working,” said OU head coach Bob Stoops while meeting with the media. “We had a good winter and spring leading up to the summer. Hopefully we’ll get leadership out of not only the three or four that came back, but some of our older guys with experience as well.”

Offensive question marks

Saying OU will bring home the program’s eighth national championship is much easier than actually accomplishing it.

Many question marks still remain.

“[The offensive line] is a concern because those guys have played a limited amount,” Stoops said. “You just want to see consistency and see how they work here through two-a-days and work through the season. We’ve got to keep developing those guys. They had a pretty good spring going up against a pretty good defensive line of our own.”

Because the Sooners are replacing four starters from last year’s offensive line that included a first and second round draft pick, it is easy to doubt the inexperience.

But it is also easy to look at the predicament as if the glass is half-full.

Moving Trent Williams to left tackle should be an excellent move as he protects Bradford’s back side. Williams, a 6-foot-5, 318-pound senior has been said among the coaches as having the potential to be the best that has ever had come through during the Stoops regime.

Ushering in new faces like Ben Habern and Stephen Good across the front has the potential to pay off as both players enter as highly-touted throughout the recruiting world.

Then there is the question mark at wide receiver.

The loss of Manuel Johnson, Juaquin Iglesias and Quentin Chaney have some Sooner fans in an uproar throughout Campus Corner.

But Stoops is excited about the potential there, as well.

“I think Sam will have a good number of targets,” Stoops said. “I think one of the best things that Kevin Wilson has done as our offensive coordinator is to be able to play to more team strengths.”

Playing to their strengths is something this team will have to do, as sophomore Ryan Broyles moves to the outside, and fellow hometown favorite Mossis Madu finally gets a chance at the slot position.

Joining the Norman High products will be senior Adron Tennell, junior Brandon Caleb, sophomore Dejuan Miller and sophomore Jameel Owens.

Defense expects big things

OU is returning with eight starters from the defensive side of the ball; a unit good enough to be in the top-3 of every Big 12 statistical category.

All-American defensive lineman Gerald McCoy echoed those sentiments Tuesday.

“I feel we could be the best defense in the country,” said the Oklahoma City native. “We’ve worked hard enough to be there and we have so much depth on our team. That’s our mind set.”

Joining McCoy will be ’08 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the year Travis Lewis, and a whole host of players across the front of a defensive line that many pundits have as the best in the nation.

It would be easy to say that only a win at the Cotton Bowl separates this team from a trip to Hollywood, but with one of the harder schedules in the nation, the Sooners will have to do what every championship team has done.

Win on the road.

Road games at Miami, Fla.; at pre-season Big 12 North favorites, Kansas and Nebraska; the trek to Lubbock and two neutral site games (BYU and Texas) will all prove tough if a championship is on the near horizon.