If you had sized up the college football iterations of the Oklahoma Sooners and LSU Tigers two years ago, you would be very surprised to see where they are today.

This statement doesn’t necessarily refer to the reality that OU and LSU are top-tier national championship contenders in college football. The Sooners and Tigers should be in the mix in most seasons. They recruit way too well, they take football very seriously, and they have national brand names which will attract elite players.

The surprise is the HOW, the way in which Oklahoma and LSU have improved this season.

The proof of these two programs’ separate but powerful evolutions was displayed over the past weekend.

In 2017, Oklahoma was all-offense, no-defense. LSU was all-defense, no-offense. Oklahoma was one year away from firing embattled defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. LSU was one year away from watching Joe Burrow begin to change the quarterback position in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, giving coach Ed Orgeron a sense of what was both possible and necessary to take the next step as a program.

Now, in 2019, Oklahoma has a new defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch. LSU has given Burrow a passing game guru, assistant coach Joe Brady (formerly) of the New Orleans Saints.

Presto-changeo. These two teams now have a much better chance of standing up to the two behemoths in college football: Alabama and Clemson.

The Oklahoma Sooners held the Texas Longhorns to just 27 points in a more-decisive-than-it-looked 34-27 win. Oklahoma would have won by a larger margin had star quarterback Jalen Hurts not committed two turnovers in the Texas red zone, and if an Oklahoma receiver had not dropped a touchdown pass on the goal line.

The LSU Tigers took the Florida Gators’ best punch for roughly 40 minutes… and calmly dominated the final 20 minutes to score a closer-than-it-looked 42-28 win. Florida played LSU on even terms deep into the third quarter, but LSU sped away in the fourth quarter to cover the 13-point pregame spread in Las Vegas.

The Oklahoma identity was newly fortified with defense. The LSU recipe was freshly seasoned with the added Cayenne pepper of a spicy, loaded offense.

Now, these two teams have a both-and profile.

Oklahoma always had the offense. Now it has offered a convincing argument that its defense can hold up under pressure.

LSU always had the defense. Now it has offered a convincing argument that its offense can win a shootout if it has to play one against Alabama and Tua Tagovailoa on November 2, in what is shaping up to be the biggest game of the regular season.

CeeDee Lamb with the horns down #OUvsTEX #OU #Texas #HornsDown #RedRiverRivalry #Boomer pic.twitter.com/0DfkLBrmeK

— SportsTalk with Kash (@lazysportsdude) October 12, 2019

To flesh out the point about these two programs’ improved levels of preparedness against Alabama, one has to remember that both schools did in fact play Alabama last season.

LSU got shut out. Alabama played a modernized, updated form of football, and LSU was stuck in 1979.

Oklahoma, when it played Alabama in the College Football Playoff national semifinals in the Orange Bowl game, allowed 45 points, 21 in the first quarter.

LSU’s offense didn’t give its defense a chance against Alabama. The Sooners’ defense didn’t give their offense a chance against Bama.

Now, the Tigers and Sooners have made the relevant adjustments to put themselves in better position to win.

It doesn’t mean they WILL win, but it does mean we can expect closer, better games.

Get ready: LSU-Alabama — which was the most important game of the 2011 college football regular season — ended 9-6 eight years ago. The two schools had a rematch in New Orleans for the national title in January of 2012.

This season is shaping up to repeat the 2011 season, with a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game between LSU and Alabama and, potentially, a rematch in New Orleans.https://t.co/xN7J0No54U

— Zach Barnett (@zach_barnett) October 15, 2019

Eight years later, LSU-Alabama could follow the same trajectory… but their game won’t end with a 9-6 score. 39-36 or 49-46 are more likely scores than 9-6.

If LSU and/or Oklahoma play Alabama tougher this season, credit their head coaches — Ed Orgeron for the Bayou Bengals and Lincoln Riley of the Sooners — for hiring the right new assistant coaches and identifying the proper points of emphasis.

Hiring the right assistants is often the most important move college football head coaches make.

LSU and Oklahoma struck gold, and now they will play for bigger riches as the 2019 season continues.