Last year's inaugural season in the SEC was abysmal and fell far short of the high expectations for the Sooners in the fall. The season started rocky and went up in flames with all the injuries to the wide receiver room, the benching of celebrated QB Jackson Arnold, as well as firing Offensive Coordinator Seth Litrell before the end of October. There are many questions about whether Venables is the long-term solution after two of his three seasons ending with a losing record. As bad as things ended last season, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel and the 2025 Sooners may very well be the most improved teams in America.
The offensive woes were addressed during the offseason bringing in arguably the biggest transfer portal get in John Mateer who threw for over 3,100 yards and ran for over 800 on the ground last year in Pullman. He has game experience and with an upgrade with talent around him on the offensive side of the ball he could very well be a dark horse candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
⛓️💥John Mateer broke or evaded 53 tackles last season - the most from any FBS QB.
— The Main Line Podcast (@TheMainLinePod) June 13, 2025
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To make Mateer's transition as easy as possible Oklahoma brought him to Norman with his former Offensive Coordinator Ben Arbuckle. We saw how explosive the offense was in Pullman, Washington in 2024 and one can only imagine what the numbers might look like with a much more talented cast for Mateer to distribute the ball to.
In addition to the duo brought in from Washington State, the Sooners brought in former Cal running back Jaydn Ott who is looking to get back to his form from the 2023 season when he ran over 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns. If Ott and the wide receiver room can stay healthy you can expect many frustrated defensive coordinators throughout the SEC trying to contain this explosive offense. I would expect to see many Sooner Schooner runs around the field as touchdowns will be plentiful in 2025.
The schedule does no favors for the Sooners again in 2025, but on the bright side quite a few of these games are in Norman. The start of the season should give us an idea of how this season will go with home games against Michigan and Auburn in September, but there is a good chance the Oklahoma goes into the Red River Rivalry game against Texas at 5-0.
November will determine if this is a good team or a College Football Playoff caliber team with road games with huge road games Knoxville and Tuscaloosa. Coach Venables is more than aware his time in Norman could end after this season if it looks anything like 2024 again, but he addressed many of the issues directly and on paper anything under eight wins would be a shocker.