Brett McMurphy didn't use Oklahoma's loaded schedule to overthink it as a CFP team

It's only May, but there are already believers in the Oklahoma Sooners and their return to the College Football Playoff.

On3's Brett McMurphy on Wednesday released his post-spring College Football Playoff and bowl predictions and had the Sooners going back to the CFP for the second year in a row under head coach Brent Venables as the No. 10 seed.

Sooners already getting College Football Playoff love despite tough road there

Last season as the No. 8 seed, the Sooners got to host No. 9 Alabama at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. For 2026, though, McMurphy predicts OU to just barely sneak in and travel to play defending national champion and No. 7 Indiana. A win there would send the Sooners to play No. 2 Ohio State in the quarterfinals, giving OU a chance to earn the SEC a lot of bragging rights over the Big Ten.

The rest of McMurphy's projected 12-team field included No. 1 Miami, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 11 Penn State and No. 12 North Dakota State, which will be in its first season at the FBS level.

Lost in the shuffle is that this bracket would also mean McMurphy likely predicts the Sooners to go 9-3 with another loaded schedule. Alabama became the first three-loss team to make the playoff last season before avenging a regular-season loss to OU in the first round.

The 12-team field features three teams on the Sooners' daunting 2026 schedule, including Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M. Considering McMurphy has all three teams seeded above the Sooners, that means all were likely projected losses for OU. However, the Sooners play Georgia and Texas back-to-back to start SEC play, so both would have plenty of time to recover from an early loss to OU.

Read more: Sooners post-spring 2026 schedule prediction sets up Red River Rivalry revenge

Regardless, McMurphy isn't overthinking an OU team that returns loads of talent on both sides of the ball and made transfer additions where needed just a year after making the CFP at 10-2 while also surviving a gauntlet.

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