SEC Media Don't Have a High Opinion of Oklahoma in 2025

The Southeastern Conference released its preseason media poll on Friday, and the Sooners were not picked to be among this year's contenders for the title.

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Southeastern Conference media pundits are correct, Oklahoma still isn’t SEC-ready.

The preseason media poll was released on Friday and the Sooners were projected to finish 10th in the Southeastern Conference standings this year.

That’s up from where OU finished its maiden voyage in the SEC — 13th out of 16 teams — but not anywhere close to where Brent Venables wants his program to be going into Year 4. Venables, though, doesn't mind shifting into "prove it" mode.

“We've had a lot of changes since January,” Venables said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “ … We've also had tremendous retention, which, foundationally for me, is what it's all about.”

More bad news for Sooner fans: SEC media picked rival Texas to edge out Georgia for the league championship. After losing to the Bulldogs in last year’s title game and making the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, Texas (3,060 ballot points) continues to look fit for its transition from the Big 12 to the SEC, while Georgia (2,957) remains a strong contender.

No. 3 Alabama (2,783) and No. 4 LSU (2,668) are the other major contenders in this year’s voting, followed by No. 5 South Carolina (2,109), No. 6 Florida (1,986), No. 7 Ole Miss ((1,979), No. 8 Texas A&M (1,892) and No. 9 Tennessee (1,700).

OU received 1,613 points (16 points for a first-place vote, 15 for a second-place vote, down to one point for a 16th-place vote).

The Sooners were followed by Auburn (1,272), Missouri (1,170), Vanderbilt (936), Arkansas (764), Kentucky (512) and Mississippi State (343) to round out the poll. 

OU has been a trendy pick with some oddsmakers to even make this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff. 

The Sooners do have two of the top transfer portal arrivals in quarterback John Mateer from Washington State and running back Jaydn Ott from Cal. Ott was picked by media Friday as an All-SEC second team performer.

OU also brings back all five starters on the offensive line as well as three others who started at running back, but will have to integrate newcomers at wide receiver and tight end.

On defense, the Sooners lost All-American linebacker Danny Stutsman and all-conference safety Billy Bowman, but appear loaded at virtually every other position — including defensive line, where senior R Mason Thomas was named second-team All-SEC on Friday, leading what has been called the league's best defensive line, although only one defender and three players overall were named preseason All-SEC by the media.