Michigan in Week 2 is the most important game on Oklahoma's 2025 schedule

For the second straight season, Oklahoma will be playing one of the most difficult schedules in college football.

The reason for this is simple: The Sooners play in the country's strongest football conference, which both last year and this year means that as many as six of their eight conference games are against teams ranked in the Top 25.

If that isn't daunting enough, Oklahoma will also host Michigan in Week 2 of the coming season. That's seven of 12 regular-season games against teams projected to be among the nation's 25 best teams entering the 2025 season.

It will be a matchup of two college football blue-blood programs and two of the top-six winningest programs of all time. The Wolverines rank No. 1 in that category, and the Sooners come in at No. 6 in the country.

One year removed from winning the national championship, its first outright national title in the Associated Press poll era, Michigan finished outside of the AP Top-25 rankings last season but is projected to begin the 2025 season back in the top 25 in almost all of the way-too-early preseason rankings.

The Wolverines lost their starting quarterback (Davis Warren), their two leading rushers (Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards) and their leading receiver (Colston Loveland) from the 2024 team, but this is Michigan, and you know head coach Sherrone Moore (a former OU player and alum) has plenty of talent returning, along with a top 10-ranked recruiting class that includes the No. 1 overall recruit in QB Bryce Underwood.

Most college football experts believe Oklahoma's offense will be much-improved over last season and will be a much better complement to a defense that has been improving in each of Venables' three seasons as head coach. The Sooners ranked 113th out of 134 FBS teams a year ago in total offense and 19th in total defense.

Since last season ended, OU has brought in one of the top two quarterbacks in the transfer portal (John Mateer from Washington State) and a new offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, who coached Mateer at Washington State, with Mateer and Arbuckle directing the Wazzu offense, the Cougars finished 6th nationally in scoring and 17th in total offense in 2024.

That combination alone should greatly enhance the Sooners' offensive attack, plus they have added some key weapons around their new quarterback and strengthened the offensive line rotation.

Oklahoma's 2025 schedule is filled with top-25 battles, but the reason the Week 2 game with Michigan looms so big is that it will give us our first serious look at how good the Year 2 edition of the Sooners is in the snake pit that is the SEC.

The outcome of this game will not only serve as a huge momentum boost (assuming, of course, an OU victory) but also set the scene for the inordinately tough SEC schedule to follow.

David Pollock, former college football analyst on ESPN's College GameDay, recently weighed in on this marquee 2025 showdown of college football titans:

"If you think that's an easy game to pick, I would disagree," Pollack said. "I think it's a 'pick-em' at worst, and I might even lean Oklahoma because of what they come in with continuity-wise. I think Oklahoma is going to come in with more continuity with quarterback and play-caller. [Plus] they have the best defensive line in the SEC...

"Oklahoma, I think, is going to be one of the most improved teams in the country," the former Georgia defensive star said.

In addition to the visiting Wolverines, who will be making their first-ever trip to Norman, Oklahoma, on Sept. 6 this fall, the Sooners will also play host this season to Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU. The OU road schedule is equally onerous: South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and, of course, the annual Red River showdown against Texas the second weekend in October.

If Oklahoma can make it through that treacherous gauntlet with as many as eight wins, you'd have to tip your hat to Brent Venables and his staff and acknowledge that 2025 was a successful season for Sooner football and a definite improvement over the previous year.

But that is still something to wait and wish for. The Michigan game could be the table-setter for what's to come.