The final ballots are being cast in the college football 2025 preseason top-25 rankings, and when all the ballots are counted and final preseason top-25 rankings are published, the new-look Oklahoma Sooners should be a consensus top-25 pick.
As per usual, Athlon Sports is leading the way among preseason preview magazines and has the Oklahoma Sooners ranked No. 20.
Oklahoma gaining ground as final wave of 2025 CFB projections kicks off with Athlon Sports' preseason top 25
That may not seem like a heavy vote of confidence that Brent Venables and Sooner Team 131 are going to turn things around this fall from the disappointing 6-7 season in Year 1 of SEC play, but you have to put that in perspective, recognizing that the staff at Athlon Sports didn't include Oklahoma among its 30 best teams looking ahead to 2025 back in January.
The Athlon Sports 2025 Preseason Top 25 had Texas No. 1, with Penn State, Ohio State, Georgia and Clemson rounding out the top five. Ten SEC teams were ranked in the top 25, including four in the top 10. Only one of the 10 SEC teams ranked lower than the Sooners in Tennessee at No. 21.
In addition to Texas and Georgia, LSU came in at No. 7, Alabama (8), Florida (11), South Carolina (12), Ole Miss (18), Texas A&M (19), Oklahoma (20) and Tennessee (21).
First, we had the "way-too-early" 2025 top-25 projections back in January, then the post-spring revised but still way-too-early top-25 picks. With the magazine preview publications now starting to hit newsstands and in-boxes as we are about six weeks away from the start of another college football season, we will get one final look at what the various media sources have to say about the 2025 preseason top-25 rankings in college football before the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Poll cap it all off with their annual preseason top-25s.
Over the next several weeks, Lindy's, the Phil Steele 2025 College Football Preview and Sports Illustrated will join Athlon Sports by publishing their preseason top-25 rankings.
Read more about OU football