Oklahoma's 24-17 win over Auburn ostensibly brought several more national sports media outlets into the Sooners' camp as serious contenders to make the College Football Playoff this season.
ESPN and CBS Sports were the earliest to project the Sooners to make the playoff field this season despite coming off a disappointing 6-7 season a year ago and facing arguably the most difficult 2025 regular-season schedule. Oklahoma's win over Michigan in Week 2 got the ball rolling in terms of the reality of OU's return to relevance and the probabilities of a big bounce-back season.
Oklahoma has run off four consecutive wins to start the season and should add one more over Kent State before meeting Red River rival Texas in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 11. The Sooners began the season at No. 18 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, and through the first four weeks, have worked themselves up to No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches Poll, which excluded the Sooners in its preseason rankings.
With as many as three or four SEC teams expected to make it into the 12-team playoff field this season, Oklahoma has been gaining steam as a legitimate CFP contender, largely behind the play of transfer quarterback John Mateer and what many believe to be one of the best defenses in college football (who would have said the latter four years ago when Brent Venables took over as head coach of the Sooners?).
A third of the way through the 2025 season -- can you believe it already? -- four more media outlets projected Oklahoma to make the playoffs this year. It's still relatively early to make such a bold prediction with the most difficult part of the season just ahead, but it is, at the very least, a hopeful sign for a team that has struggled in recent seasons to get back to its true identity.
Where media outlets project OU in CFP
USA Today, The Athletic, On3 and Athlon Sports joined ESPN and CBS Sports in projecting the Sooners as a playoff team.
Here is how the projections break down at this stage of the 2025 season, from highest seed to lowest:
USA Today: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. winner of No. 7 Indiana and No. 10 Texas A&M in second round of College Football Playoff.
Athlon Sports: No. 8 Oklahoma hosting No. 9 Texas A&M in first round.
ESPN (Mark Schlabach): No. 8 Oklahoma hosting No. 9 Texas Tech in first round.
ESPN (Kyle Bonagura): No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Indiana in first round.
CBS Sports: No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Florida State in first round.
On3: No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 8 Florida State in first round.
The Athletic: No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 6 Ole Miss in first round.
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