Oklahoma’s return to the College Football Playoff in 2025 looked like a breakthrough, but not everyone is buying the idea that the Sooners are built to stay there.
The Sooners got back to the playoff for the first time since 2019 and did it by handling the tight moments better than they had in the past. Oklahoma went 4-1 in one-score games, a sharp turnaround for Brent Venables after he had gone 4-8 in those situations entering last season.
Even with that success, the offense left plenty of room for doubt. Oklahoma finished No. 92 nationally in total offense and No. 113 in rushing offense, making it the lowest-ranked offense among College Football Playoff teams and the second-worst rushing attack in the field.
That’s why ESPN’s Brandon Gall, filling in for Paul Finebaum on "The Paul Finebaum Show," thinks the Sooners could slide in 2026.
"I don't know about Oklahoma," Gall said. " John Mateer, coming back.
All kinds of reasons to think they're good, but based on the metrics, that was not a great playoff team last year... I would say Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Alabama step back."
There’s still plenty for Oklahoma to feel good about heading into 2026, starting with a healthy John Mateer and a stronger group of returning players. But the Sooners will have to show that last year was more than just a run of being "Hard to Kill."
If the offense improves and the defense keeps playing at an elite level, Oklahoma can quiet the skepticism fast. If not, the warning signs about regression are already out there.
In Other News...
Oklahoma May Finally Be Seeing The David Stone Payoff
David Stones rise has been one of the more encouraging developments for Oklahomas defense, especially for a player who arrived with the kind of recruiting profile that can create instant pressure and instant expectations. The five-star defensive tackle was used sparingly as a true freshman, but his second season looked much more like the version the Sooners hoped they were getting, with 42 tackles and eight tackles for loss while becoming harder and harder to ignore on the interior.
Now Stone is drawing national attention as one of the top defensive tackles in college football, and the praise around him has only sharpened the focus on what comes next for Oklahoma. His production already gives the Sooners a disruptive presence up front, and with analysts pointing to him as a potential difference-maker, the bigger question is how much more he can elevate a defense that will be leaning on him heavily moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Is Being Held To A National Title Standard Again
After finishing 10-3 and getting back to the College Football Playoff, Oklahoma is once again being judged by a standard that used to define the program: not just whether it can make the field, but whether it can chase a national title. That shift matters in Norman, where the expectation has moved beyond simply recovering from a disappointing season and back toward the kind of ceiling that turns a good year into a memorable one.
The optimism around the Sooners comes with clear conditions. The defense has to stay strong, and the offense has to take a real step forward under quarterback John Mateer. If both sides of the ball come together, Oklahoma could find itself in the national championship conversation again, with a path that feels a lot closer to the programs old championship standard than its recent rebuilding phase. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Venables Keeps Giving Oklahoma Fans A Reason To Believe
Since Brent Venables took over before the 2022 season, Oklahoma has had a knack for turning overlooked or lightly celebrated recruits into real SEC contributors. That matters in a league where roster-building is supposed to be as much about development as it is about signing-day splash, and the Sooners have already seen that approach pay off in the trenches and on the back end of the defense.
Gracen Halton, Taylor Wein, Eli Bowen and Courtland Guillory all fit the same broader pattern: players who arrived with questions and quickly became part of the answer. For Oklahoma fans, the encouraging part is not just that Venables has found talent, but that the staff keeps identifying it early and getting it ready for bigger roles before the rest of the conference fully catches on. [Read more 🡒]