Seven Key Elements for Oklahoma to Have a Dream Season in 2025

Playing a college football season mostly injury-free? Sounds impossible. But it’s not.

Who remembers the fractured thumb sustained by starting linebacker Rocky Calmus during the 2000 season?

Oh, no! Your All-American linebacker broke his thumb? That’s awful! However will you overcome such a devastating blow?

Well, in Calmus’ case, he casted that thing up and stayed on the field. Even caught an interception against Texas and returned it for a touchdown. 

The Sooners have overcome plenty of other injuries through the last two-plus decades. But Calmus’ example is so germane here because hardly anyone on that 2000 roster missed significant playing time — and that happens to be the last time the Sooners won a national championship.  

Sometimes, that’s what it takes — good football, good luck, and good health.

2. Heisman moment 

Jason White’s Heisman moment probably came in Dallas, when he and his teammates crushed Texas 65-13 and White threw for 290 yards and has as many touchdowns (four) as incompletions (17-of-21).

Sam Bradford’s happened in Stillwater, when he cartwheeled toward the goal line and finished with 370 yards and five total TDs in a 61-41 Bedlam fireworks showdown with Oklahoma State.

Baker Mayfield had multiple Heisman moments: in Columbus, when he beat Ohio State and then planted an OU flag at midfield; against Texas, when he found Mark Andrews for the fourth-quarter game-winner from 59 yards out, and versus OSU, when he also emerged victorious in a 62-52 Bedlam shootout thanks to his 598 yards passing and six total TDs.  

Same for Kyler Murray, who was unstoppable in a loss to Texas (396 total yards, five TDs), inconceivable in a win at Texas Tech (460 total yards, four TDs), invaluable in a win over Kansas (371 total yards, five touchdowns) and unflappable in a win at West Virginia (478 total yards, four TDs and the game-clinching fourth-down conversion).

In a dream scenario, where would John Mateer’s Heisman moment happen? 

He’ll have plenty of opportunities. The OU defense should keep the Sooners in just about every game. The Michigan defense will be a tremendous test in Week 2. A win in the Cotton Bowl will put Mateer on everyone’s Heisman radar. Revenge games at South Carolina and Tennessee will be high-visibility road contests against quality teams. Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU are all good teams but neither is a beast — and will all come to Norman. And of course, if the Sooners successfully navigate the first 2 1/2 months of the season, all eyes will be on their showdown in Tuscaloosa. 

Mateer’s November (at Tennessee, at Alabama, home versus Mizzou and LSU) could be as challenging as it gets. If Deion Burks and the rest of the receiver corps stays healthy and Mateer runs that gauntlet and the Sooners are in the championship chase, expect to see him in New York City — and expect OU to be in the playoff discussion.

3. QB (re)boot 

The SEC is undergoing a bit of a makeover behind center, and that could work in OU’s favor. 

LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers are back. But OU's other six SEC opponents will have a new QB.

The biggest name is at Texas, where Arch Manning replaces Quinn Ewers. And Manning certainly has the name. But does he have the game? Is he actually an upgrade from Ewers? We’ll see.

Jackson Arnold takes over at Auburn. Safe to say the Sooner defense is looking forward to facing their old QB again in their SEC opener at Owen Field. 

Jaxson Dart has moved on at Ole Miss. Nico Iamaleava took the money and ran from Tennessee to UCLA. Jalen Milroe graduated at Alabama. Mizzou’s Brady Cook is in the NFL now (and lucky for OU, third-stringer Drew Pyne hit the portal). At Michigan, former 5-star recruit Bryce Underwood is projected to win the starting job.

That gives Mateer, a prolific starter at Washington State last year, an edge against most of the QBs he’s going to face — and hey, he doesn’t have to play against the OU defense. 

4. Speaking of defense 

Danny Stutsman is a big loss for the Sooners on defense. So is Billy Bowman. Those two were steady at worst and spectacular at best throughout their OU careers, and they’ll be missed. 

But this is a dream scenario, right? 

In 2025, Kobie McKinzie puts together his intelligence, football instincts, natural athletic ability and “concrete” hitting skills to lead a ferocious Oklahoma defense with 125 tackles and 16 tackles for loss. As Venables elevates the defense again and establishes it among the SEC’s best, McKinzie earns a spot among the finalists for the Dick Butkus Award. 

Meanwhile, playing next to a supremely confident Robert Spears-Jennings and drawing his own confidence from younger brother Eli at corner, Peyton Bowen re-emerges as a savvy safety who diagnoses plays before they happen and reacts with SEC speed. Spears-Jennings is a Jim Thorpe Award finalist, and Bowen lands All-SEC honors as all those new quarterbacks test him way too frequently and he finishes the season with seven interceptions. 

Two reasons Bowen gets tested so much: one, little brother is even better as a sophomore than he was as a freshman (remember how Eli shut down Bama star wideout Ryan Williams?), and two, Gentry Williams finally stays healthy, plays at an All-SEC level and even gets a look from the Thorpe Award. Teams try to expose Williams in the run game, but his new shoulder holds up fine and he finishes with 85 tackles and four picks. 

And up front, R Mason Thomas leads the SEC with 12 sacks, transfer Marvin Jones Jr. contributes eight and former 5-star David Stone lives up to his hype as he rotates in with Jayden Jackson, Damonic Williams and Gracen Halton and the Sooner defensive front flexes all that muscle they gained in the offseason as the SEC’s best defensive line.

5. Finally, a tight end 

It’s been a few years since Oklahoma put a tight end on the field that opposing defenses had to account for. Brayden Willis was that good, that versatile. 

Is there a guy in this year’s room that brings that kind of gravitas? 

Not yet. But playing Michigan in Week 2 presents an opportunity for someone to step up into that role. 

In this scenario, the fan favorite would be converted linebacker Jaren Kanak, a likable jokester but also a passionate Sooner. 

More realistically, it’s fourth-year junior Kaden Helms who catches a break and finally stays healthy. 

As OU mined the transfer portal for more and more tight ends from outposts like Kennesaw State, Louisiana Tech and Pitt State, Helms kept his head down and quietly put in the work. He’s got the hands and athletic ability to make a big impact in the passing game, but at 6-foot-5 and 238 pounds, is he big and strong enough — and a good enough blocker — to stay on the field and be a linchpin in the run game? 

That versatility and big-play punch have always been what the best OU tight ends have provided. In this scenario, Helms catches 35 passes for 555 yards and eight touchdowns, doubles as a tenacious blocker and draws All-SEC recognition.

6. Ott to be great

Let’s face it: Sure, Oklahoma’s best teams in the last 25 years had a Heisman-worthy quarterback. But they also had an elite running back (or two). Quentin Griffin, Adrian Peterson, DeMarco Murray, Samaje Perine, Joe Mixon, Trey Sermon — they all supported their star QB with huge rushing production. 

This year, that banner will be carried by Jaydn Ott. 

The Cal transfer is a breakaway threat both on the ground and through the air, and at 5-11 and 210 pounds, he does it with both slippery elusiveness and surprising power. 

An able comparison for Ott’s style and skills would be Murray, who at 6-1 and around 210 pounds set school records for all-purpose yards (6,718) and total touchdowns (65) because he was faster, stronger and shiftier than defenders expected. 

Ott’s numbers at Cal were not inflated by poor opponents. In 2022, he strafed Arizona for 274 yards and three TDs and hit Stanford for 97 yards and a score. Then in 2023 he ran for 78 yards and TD against Auburn, pasted Arizona State for 165 yards and a touchdown, had   84 yards against Oregon State, hung 153 yards and three TDs on USC, greeted Oregon with 93 yards and a touchdown, then hung 167 yards and two scores on Washington State, and got Stanford for 166 yards and a TD. Last year, despite a badly sprained ankle, he went for 73 yards against Florida State and 78 yards and a TD against Syracuse. 

In 23 career games in which he was healthy against Power 4 competition, Ott rushed for 2,042 yards (89 yards per game) and averaged 4.8 yards per carry. 

This year, he lands first-team All-SEC honors as he runs for 1,390 yards and 12 touchdowns and catches 26 passes for 249 yards and four scores.

7. That championship season 

Oklahoma has now played 24 consecutive football seasons without winning a national championship. That’s the longest drought in OU history since Bud Wilkinson disembarked the USS Enterprise in 1945 and joined Jim Tatum’s staff in 1946, then began his ascent to college football immortality the following year. 

All seven of OU’s national title squads, from Jim Weatherall and Tom Catlin to Kurt Burris and Jerry Tubbs to Lee Roy Selmon and Jimbo Elrod to Brian Bosworth and Tony Casillas to Torrance Marshall and Roy Williams — had an all-time, elite defense. This one has a chance to be called that.  

All seven OU national champs — from Billy Vessels and Leon Heath to Tommy McDonald and Clendon Thomas to Joe Washington and Tinker Owens to Jamelle Holieway and Keith Jackson to Josh Heupel and Quentin Griffin, also had a spectacular offense. Even with a new coordinator, a rebuilt passing game and a fresh attitude, this Oklahoma offense will have to overachieve to reach that status.

The mark of success for Venables in 2025 isn’t unrealistic. Oklahoma can win eight games. Count on anywhere from 3-5 games on the Sooners’ schedule this year coming down to the final possession — and in that realm, Venables’ track record is awful. 

Where Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley excelled at winning one-possession games, Venables’ teams are just 5-9. 

In this dream scenario, Venables wins, let’s say, three out of four one-possession games — Texas, Tennessee and LSU — and finishes the year at 10-2 overall, 6-2 in SEC play, with losses to South Carolina and Alabama. That puts the Sooners in a tie with the Crimson Tide for second place in the standings behind Georgia.

Against this schedule, a 10-2 record is a green light to the College Football Playoff, where OU draws the No. 8 overall seed and hosts a first-round playoff game against Indiana of the Big Ten Conference. 

Remember, in addition to Mateer’s Heisman, OU has finalists for the Butkus (McKinzie), Biletnikoff (Burks) and Thorpe (Spears-Jennings), and another half-dozen Sooners (Ott, Helms, Halton, Thomas, Gentry Williams and center Troy Everett), earn All-SEC accolades. 

The Hoosiers are swarmed by Sooner Nation enjoying Memorial Stadium’s first CFP game and swamped by the Sooners’ talent as Oklahoma advances 48-21. 

In a second-round matchup with Big 12 champ Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, Ott dazzles the bleary-eyed New Orleans crowd with 221 yards rushing on New Year’s Night, but it’s Mateer and offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle who put together a drive to remember in the final minute as Venables sinks his alma mater in a 27-21 classic to land a spot in the CFP semifinals. 

There, at the Fiesta Bowl, it’s a Red River Rematch as Manning, Steve Sarkisian and the talented Longhorns look to even the score after OU’s 33-30 overtime win in October. 

Instead, with Bob Stoops and Mack Brown watching from the sidelines, Manning suddenly gives off more of a Chris Simms vibe as Gentry Williams, Peyton Bowen and Eli Bowen all collect interceptions and Halton buries him in the end zone for a safety. Mateer overcomes early protection issues and transfer wideout Isaiah Sategna takes a screen pass 75 yards to the house just before halftime as the Sooners blow open a 48-28 laugher. 

In the national championship game, red hot OU is a 2 1/2-point underdog to an old, old rival: Notre Dame. It's a tall task. Remember, Oklahoma's last bowl win was coached by Stoops.

Sooner Nation descends on Miami like they used to in the Big Eight days, like they haven’t since 2000, or 2008. But this time, instead of playing a Florida school in Florida, the Sooners catch a 13-1 Fighting Irish squad that has beaten the odds all season and just keeps winning. 

The Irish, with a new quarterback and a new defensive coordinator, opened the season eighth in the CFP odds at +1300. But Oklahoma started 17th at +5500 (those odds as of Thursday). 

Just like in 2000, OU started low in the polls: 20th in the coaches poll that year, 25th this year, per Sports Illustrated. And just like in 2000, the Sooners have been on a steady climb since August. 

Notre Dame leads the all-time series with Oklahoma 9-2, starting in 1952 and featuring some historic, all-time classics along the way.

Now, in the ultimate game of 2025-26, the Sooners can finally get revenge for all those losses to the Irish. The emotion-draining, nerve-deadening, mind-numbing 7-0 loss at home to Notre Dame in 1957 — the one that ended Wilkinson’s 47-game winning streak — seems a lot more than 70 years ago. 

The Irish are good, no doubt. Their getting to the title game in back-to-back seasons signals to the powers-that-be in college football that Marcus Freeman and the Irish are definitely doing something right.

But Oklahoma’s talent wins the day.

Mateer and his dynamic (and healthy) corps of wide receivers are unstoppable. Four different wideouts and Ott each account for more than 50 receiving yards as Mateer throws for 375 yards and two touchdowns, Xavier Robinson runs for two short TDs and the OU defense is at its best with Kip Lewis collecting his third career pick six and Thomas sacking C.J. Carr three times in the second half.

Oklahoma pulls away to a 35-20 victory — and, finally, Oklahoma has its eighth national championship. 

And finally, Brent etches his name alongside Bud, Barry and Bob — Oklahoma’s Killer B’s.