The Oklahoma Sooners could be a sleeper pick to win the national title. They're not really a contender as of now despite their pretty prestigious status in the college football sphere. With Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Penn State, and Oregon representing some of the current landscape's perennial powers, Oklahoma gets overlooked. It's hard not to when they went 6-7 in an alarmingly bad year. In 2025, they could very well put that all behind them.
Oklahoma named in stunning pick for 2025 title contenders
According to USA Today analyst Blake Toppmeyer, the Oklahoma Sooners are 66-1 to win the title, considerably worse than most teams that will get picked to win. Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, Clemson, LSU, Miami, South Carolina, and Florida all have better odds among others than Oklahoma.
However, Toppmeyer says they're his "Hail Mary" pick to win it all. They're admittedly a very long shot, but they're a long shot he likes. He said, "Oklahoma’s roster looks substantially better on the heels of a losing season that sparked Brent Venables to bring in quarterback John Mateer from Washington State."
He also pointed out that the QB's offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, followed him to run the offense, which is a "win-win" for the Sooners. "Landing standout running back Jadyn Ott, a California transfer" is another big win for the program."Oklahoma returned a lot of production, and it surely can’t be as injury plagued as last season. That leaves the manhole, though, of arguably the nation’s most daunting schedule, which could swallow even an improved Sooners team," he concluded.
Oklahoma Football has a difficult schedule ahead of it. It's also coming off a dismal season for its lofty standards. However, provided things don't go as catastrophically bad as they did in 2024, they will be much better and could be a College Football Playoff squad. Does that mean title contender? Maybe not, but that's why they're a Hail Mary long shot.
They face a daunting road back to college football supremacy, and they're unlikely, even with all that factored in, to get there this year. However, given how things have gone over the offseason, it's impossible to count out a former power this early.