With the long-awaited start to the 2025 college football season now finally upon us, Oklahoma is one of the biggest enigmas in college football. Media experts seem to agree that the Sooners will be better in 2025, but how much better is the big unknown heading into the new season.
The pollsters and oddsmakers, who like to make forward-looking projections and create rankings on how the best teams are measuring up compared to the competition, have predicted Oklahoma's win total this season anywhere from 6 to even 10 wins and project the Sooners' to finish as high as fifth and as low as 10th in the final SEC standings.
The major preseason national polls also reflect cautious optimism. The preseason coaches poll left Oklahoma out of its preseason top 25. The media representatives who vote, however, felt highly enough about the Sooners to rank them 18th in the AP Preseason Top 25.
Brad Crawford optimistic about Sooners
Those variances speak to the uncertainty surrounding the OU football program this season until the Sooners are able to prove on the field and against a highly formidable slate of opponents that they are as good as a number of experts believe they can be this season.
One of those who is waiting optimistically to see the poof in the pudding is CBS Sports college football analyst Brad Crawford, who this week called Oklahoma the most underrated team in the SEC this season.
"Oklahoma played much of last season with the chamber half-empty thanks to mounting injuries and a lack of confidence on both sides of the ball," Crawford wrote in an article on CBS Sports.
"Brent Venables enters his fourth season with his back against the wall, but a revamped roster headlined by (QB) John Mateer and (RB) Jaydn Ott could spark real improvement. The schedule is daunting... but go ahead and by stock in the Sooners while its low -- this price won't be around in October."
Up to now, it's all been about printed and spoken words and nothing that is binding. That's all up to the players and the teams themselves. The actual games will separate out the winners and the losers, as well as all the preseason hype and expectations from reality.
Then and only then will we have a true accounting of what this season holds for Oklahoma football.
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