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Oklahoma Sooners star R Mason Thomas learned the hard way how different the SEC is than the Big 12

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Justin Churchill | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 9:57 PM ET

The Oklahoma Sooners made their appearance in the SEC very known last season, but not really in a good way.

You usually want your first impression on your new peers to be good, and I'm sure that's the intention the Sooners had. But, the everlasting impression they gave off was not one they wanted to remember, but one that their biggest rivals, like the Texas Longhorns, will never forget. They won six games and made a bowl game, but were they really even that good?

This is not an article dogging on the Sooners, I promise, and I'm sure you don't really want to re-live what happened last season, but it's important in the history of the Sooners. And, hey, it's just going to make a winning season feel that much better. They can truly surprise a ton of people in 2025.

The roster and staff are both improved, and I'm not sure many would argue the opposite. But man, this is the SEC, and sometimes that won't matter. They saw last year what the SEC can really do to a team.

The players noticed some of the biggest differences, too, and they had to learn it the hard way.

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Sooners star R Mason Thomas noticed big difference with SEC

"The environments are different. The skill players and offensive linemen are, too, but the environments are like I can barely hear myself think. Those stadiums are different," R Mason Thomas said to Mark Rodgers on The Animal at SEC Media Days.

#Sooners R Mason Thomas on @sportsanimal to Mark Rodgers: "The environments are different. The skill players and offensive linemen are, too, but the environments like I can barely hear myself think. Those stadiums are different."

Difference in SEC vs. Big 12
— Justin Churchill (@ChurchillAtoZ) July 16, 2025

Sure, the SEC is the hardest conference because you play a lot of good football teams, teams that are ranked high and win a lot of games. But, it's also the hardest and best conference because the conference has the loudest stadiums and the hardest places to play for road teams. That's a huge reason why the Sooners have the hardest schedule, or one of the hardest, in 2025.

This season, the Sooners will play in South Carolina, which, trust me when I say this -- is a very underrated stadium and fan base when it comes to home field advantage, Tennessee, and Alabama, who are both arguably the biggest home field advantages in college football. So, if R Mason Thomas thought it was bad last year, it could be even worse in 2025 when it comes to learning just how tough the SEC is with those road trips.

And then you can factor in that those three road teams they play are expected to be pretty good teams, even Tennessee is expected to be a top-half of the SEC type of team, and Alabama and SC have the potential to play in the SEC Championship. Oklahoma got a rude welcome to the SEC Now it's up to them to make people remember why they are the University of Oklahoma.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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