The post-spring revisions to all of the way-too-early 2026 college football top-25 projections that flood the sports news cycle every year immediately following the College Football Playoff national championship game continue to trickle out, and if you're an Oklahoma football fan, you're probably a little underwhelmed, if not downright disappointed, at what you're reading and hearing.
So far, the Sooners are generally projected between No. 7 (USA Today) and No. 13 (ESPN) in the still-too-early top-25 forecasts to begin the 2026 season.
Joel Klatt leaves OU outside of his top 10 in post-spring college football rankings
FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt was the latest to come out with his post-spring top-25 projection for the coming season. Klatt projected Oklahoma as the 11th best team in the nation heading into the new season.
Considering that the Sooners finished last season with a 10-3 record and ranked No. 13 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll, Klatt's post-spring assessment may not be far off the mark.
The rebuttal, of course, if you're an Oklahoma fan, is the offseason improvements made to last season's College Football Playoff team should make the team even stronger on the offensive side of the ball and equally as tough and tenacious as last season's College Football Playoff team.
First and foremost, the 2026 edition of Oklahoma football will return a completely healthy John Mateer at quarterback. Mateer fractured his thumb in the Sooners' fourth game a year ago, and although he missed only one game, he was never the same after the injury.
Oklahoma also added more offensive weapons to Mateer's supporting cast -- at wide receiver, tight end and in the run game -- and Brent Venables said this week that the offensive line could be the best in his five seasons as head coach.
Read more: Sooners proving less is more in offseason ESPN undervalued
On paper, at least, this should be a better and more balanced Oklahoma team, but the Sooners still have to navigate through a monster schedule and one additional SEC game next season. And, of course, wins are not awarded off of paper analysis. Games are won on the field.
Klatt's 2026 post-spring top-10 teams included Oregon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Miami, Texas, LSU, Texas A&M and USC, respectively. In all, nine SEC teams, including the Sooners, were part of Klatt's top 25 heading into next fall and the new college football season.
Five teams in Klatt's top 25 are on Oklahoma's 2026 schedule, including three in the top 10 (Georgia, Texas and Texas A&M).
Klatt and others may agree that the Sooners have addressed their most critical needs from a year ago, but until and unless that translates into another 10- or nine-win season, the cloud of doubt will continue linger over the 2026 Oklahoma football team.
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