Their presence at the magazine racks is the surest signal college football season is near. Pass by any rack around Norman and the word “Preview” is everywhere.

The Transcript picked several of those publications to take a look at to see what the summer prognosticators forecast for Oklahoma this season.

The five perused where Athlon, Lindy’s, Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly and USA Today Sports Weekly. The fivesome differ in what they try to accomplish.

Athlon and Lindy’s have been in the forecast business for many years and are strictly preview magazines. Their efforts end once the season begins.

Sporting News and Pro Football Weekly are both magazines that will continue college football coverage throughout the season. USA Today Sports Weekly represents the nation’s largest newspaper.

However, USA Today Sports Weekly offered the least information. No preseason Top 25, no All-American teams. There were bowl projections, but in Oklahoma’s case, the prognosis was strange.

The Sooners were picked to win the Big 12 South, but fail to reach a BCS bowl game. Missouri was the publication’s pick to win the Big 12.

What was really odd? It predicted Texas to finish third behind OU and Texas Tech in the South, yet get an at-large bid to the Sugar Bowl.

The other four all believe the Sooners should have high hopes for the coming season. Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly and Lindy’s all have OU ranked No. 4 heading into the season. Athlon has the Sooners at No. 3.

“No Allen Patrick? No Malcolm Kelly? No problem,” was Athlon’s assessment.

It predicts if a defense that will have five new starters in the back seven matures, the Sooners could be playing for its eighth national championship in 2008.

The Sporting News came with another odd description.

“The Big 12’s most dominant program this decade must prove it can thrive outside the conference in big games,” Sporting News said.

It predicted OU would win the Big 12 for the third straight year and reach the Fiesta Bowl.

“Nobody is better than (OU coach Bob) Stoops at driving home that conference titles are a program’s primary objective,” it read.