The 2025 SEC slate was an inverse of the 2024 schedule, with teams essentially playing a home-and-home series with each other over these two seasons. Oklahoma played Tennessee at home in 2024 and thus will play them on the road in 2025.
The Sooners are coming off of a disappointing 6-6 season and are looking to rebound into 2025 with a better schedule. They draw a solid start to the season with their out-of-conference slate.
However, if the Sooners want to push for a College Football Playoff bid, there is one slate of games that will swing results in their favor either way depending on how these games go.
The Sooners will likely enter their game against the Texas Longhorns on October 11th undefeated (if they aren’t…this all might be moot). The slate from that point until their bye week is the most important of the season:
If Oklahoma is, in fact, undefeated heading into Texas, this slate will be a massive one swinging back from 2024. The Sooners went 0-4 against these teams this past season. However, each of those games was closer than the final score would indicate, and the Sooners likely will not have the same issues in 2025 as they did in 2024.
Each of those teams has pretty significant losses from this year to next year. Texas loses much of its defense, likely both offensive tackles, and plenty of skill position talent. South Carolina loses most of its defensive talent, Ole Miss loses just about everyone, including their quarterback, and Tennessee is set to likely lose most of their defensive line and some key skill players like Dylan Sampson.
The Sooners, on the other hand, don’t lose nearly as much, and will likely be more talented next season than they were in 2024. If they can go 3-1 (or even 4-0) in this slate, Oklahoma would enter their bye week in November at 8-1 or 9-0 with two home games to end their schedule. At that stage, unless they fall apart at the end of the season, they’re in a great position to finish with 9-10+ wins and are right on the bubble pushing for a Playoff bid.
Even if the Sooners go 2-2, they can still make a playoff push, though that would require them to win all three post-bye games to close the season.
However, if Oklahoma hits 1-3 or 0-4 in this stretch, then they’re almost assuredly looking to be well out of the playoff race and we’re likely discussing Brent Venables’ job security. Dropping from 5-0 to 6-3 or 5-4 would sap plenty of momentum out of the program, and almost certainly drop them from any playoff conversation, even if they somehow won the last three games of the year.
This is a crucial season for the Oklahoma Sooners as they look to shake off the final stages of the Lincoln Riley era. Brent Venables is fighting to save his job in 2025. This slate of games on their schedule could decide a lot more than just their 2025 season.