As we move into the summer months and the lead up to the 2025 college football season, no team heads into the new campaign with more upside and equal downside than the Oklahoma Sooners.
There's no question this is a critical season for the future of Oklahoma football. Head coach Brent Venables knows it. His coaching staff knows it. The players are mindful of it, and Sooner fans are cautiously optimistic that the changes that have been made since the end of last season will serve as the spark that ignites an on-the-field turnaround
There seems to be general agreement among college football experts that bringing in Ben Arbuckle as the new offensive coordinator and an experienced, proven former Power Four quarterback in John Mateer from Washington State are the two pivotal components to improving an offense that, once among the most potent in college football, sadly missed the mark last season, ranking among the worst in Division I football.
The Sooners have upgraded personnel in several other areas of need on both sides of the line of scrimmage and on special teams. But the way things appear on paper isn't always the way things turn out in actuality. The other factor that has many of those who follow college football closely treading water on what to make of Oklahoma heading into a new season, including FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt, is the schedule.
In his regular weekly podcast last week, Klatt revealed his post-spring 2025 college football top 25 rankings. The former Colorado Buffalo quarterback believes the Sooners are one of the most overlooked teams heading into next season. He said Oklahoma should be a better team in 2025, and he has them at No. 25 in his preseason rankings.
The problem, Klatt said, is the Sooners' schedule is absolutely brutal, noting that OU's final seven games include a murderer's row of Texas in Dallas, at South Carolina, Ole Miss at home, at Tennessee, at Alabama, and OU finishes the season at home against Missouri and LSU. All but LSU finished in the top 25 of the final Associated Press Top 25 last season, and LSU finished just outside the top 25.
CBS Sports ranks OU higher in way-too-early top 25
The Sooners were included in several of the way-too-early media top-25 projections, but mostly in the final spot. Sporting News, USA Today Sports and most recently ESPN have issued post-spring top-25 rankings for the coming season. All three had Oklahoma at No. 25.
CBS Sports this week came out with the most aggressive positioning yet of Oklahoma's too-early 2025 top-25 worthiness. CBS Sports did not include the Sooners in its Jan. 21 way-too-early top-25 projection. It's post-spring revision to that original forecast, however, had Oklahoma at No. 18, easily the highest media projection for the 2025 Sooners to date.
"Oklahoma got downright serious with its makeover this offseason," Brandon Marcello wrote. "Brent Venables flipped the staff, took over as defensive play caller and hired away wunderkind offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who brought along quarterback John Mateer from Washington State. Cal running back Jaydn Ott is in the mix, and if the receivers (Deion Burks, Isaiah Sategna) can remain healthy, the Sooners will rebound in Venables' fourth year."
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