​The start of the Sooners’ schedule is one of the most grueling first five-game starts to a season and it’s lifting the load for OU’s schedule rankings.ESPN updated its ranking of the toughest schedules in the country last week, putting Oklahoma football with the second-hardest schedule.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Sooners will open up the season against UTEP at home Sept. 4, but they will head to likely-ranked Michigan the next week for a massive road game.After a home game against New Mexico Sept. 19, the Sooners will visit top-ranked Georgia to open up the SEC schedule and then will go to Dallas to play Texas in the Red River Rivalry.It’s a crazy start to a schedule. Even though there’s a bye week between visiting Athens and playing the Longhorns, it will still be a challenge to leave those two games with two wins.Beyond that five-game start, the Sooners will still have a demanding conference schedule to end the season. The Sooners will host likely-ranked teams in Ole Miss and Texas A&M while visiting Florida and Missouri toward the end of the year.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOU’s schedule is second on the ESPN list and is only behind Arkansas, which could go winless in the SEC. The Razorbacks’ schedule features Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, LSU, Texas A&M and a nonconference road game at Utah.In the ESPN strength of schedule rankings, the first seven teams are from the SEC and nine of the top 10 reign from the Southeastern Conference.Also with ESPN’s update is its Football Power Index, where the Sooners are ranked No. 12 and the sixth-best SEC team. There are eight teams on OU’s schedule in the top 25 of ESPN’s FPI, including No. 2 Texas, No. 5 Georgia and No. 11 Texas A&M.Safe to say the Sooners’ schedule is as tough as any in the nation, but OU coach Brent Venables said the Sooners are ready for the massive challenge coming their way in the fall.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Yeah, it’s exciting,” Venables said at OU’s Caravan event in Oklahoma City back in May. “We talk about what’s in front of us a lot and you don’t run from it, you run to it. I think that brings out the best in everybody. We knew one of the byproducts of going to the SEC would bring out the best in every part of Sooner Athletics and for the university.“It’s going to bring out the best in everybody.”