The 2025 college football season is less than three months away. The summer workout is in full swing and before we know, the team will start preparing for the fall camp. Oklahoma's Sooners are looking for a revival season in their second year.
First-year, struggling with injuries and inexperience in offense, won the second 6-7 season in three years under Brent Venables. Entering 2025, Oklahoma's offensive side will have a new look. Venables hopes a major overhaul of the offense will help the unit that won the 98th place in the U.S. last year.
Venables delegated the offense to Ben Arbuckle, one of the most popular offensive coordinators in the game. Arbuckle, together with John Mateer, hopes to revitalize crime and restore it to a standard that has been set for more than 25 years.
After Zac Alley set out for West Virginia, the offense at Venables took back the dramatic duty well. The Venables are one of the best defensive ideas in the last two and a half years of games. Although he will have to replace Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman and Ethan Towns, the Venables still have a lot of talented talent to work with on defense.
While there may still be doubts ahead of the 2025 season, there is reason to be optimistic about the Sooners. Many post-spring power rankings believe that the Sooners are one of the 25 best teams in the United States in 2025. Computers tend to agree.
In the latest update to the ESPN Football Power Index, Oklahoma's Sooners rank 16th in the rankings.
The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength, which is designed to be the best predictor of team performance for the rest of the season. FPI represents a point above or below average. The expected results are based on 20,000 using FPI, the results to date, and 20,000 simulations for the remaining timeline. Ratings and forecasts are updated daily. FPI data for the seasons before 2019 may be incomplete. - ESPN Football Power Index
Here are the SEC rankings, and their overall rankings in ESPN's Football Power Index and record-breaking forecasts.
Comprehensive:56
Expected failure:4.8-7.2
Vanderbilt Commodores' ball control style won't get a lot of love from the computer. They want to shorten the game and minimize property to limit exposure to Commodores defense. Diego Pavia leads a magical season in 2024. Can he do this again in 2025?
Comprehensive:52
Expected failure:4.4-7.6
Jeff Lebby has a tough road with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Any success they achieve will be scored on offense, which will require a rebound season for Blake Shapen.
Comprehensive:34
Expected failure:5.6-6.4
After his first season without bowls since 2015, it was a big season for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats.
Comprehensive:twenty three
Expected failure:6.9-5.2
Missouri will earn a back-to-back 10-win season, but will replace the first-round offensive tackle, the heartbeat of the Brady Cook show, and their outside organizers, Luther Burden and Luther Burden and Theo Wease. The schedule is manageable, but for Eli Drinkwitz and Tigers, that could be a gap.
Comprehensive:twenty two
Expected failure:6.1-5.9
Arkansas was one of the most surprising surprises in last year's SEC competition. Under Taylen Green, they were upset with Tennessee and sent the pig back to a bowl game.
Comprehensive:18
Expected failure:6.4-5.6
The only team that could have a tough schedule like Oklahoma Sooners is the Florida Gators. Billy Napier hopes DJ Lagway will run in college football for the first time a season ago and bring the Gators into the playoffs.
Comprehensive:16
Expected failure:6.9-5.1
It may not be all on John Mateer, but a big part of Oklahoma’s success is riding on John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle, and the way the 2025 offense is.
Comprehensive:15
Expected failure:7.3-4.8
The Lanorris seller has one of the best tools in the country, but he needs to be as good as the Gamecocks a year ago.
Comprehensive:14
Expected failure:7.5-4.5
If Jackson Arnold can get rid of the 2024 season, the Auburn Tigers will be in danger.
Comprehensive:13
Expected failure:8.3-3.8
Lane Kiffin put the Rebels into the forefront of the playoffs last year. But Kentucky’s losses undermined these plans. Many veterans disappeared, including quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Comprehensive:12
Expected failure:7.9-4.2
The LSU Tigers have one of the best quarterbacks in the nation at Garrett Nussmeier. Much of LSU's success will depend on how much defense grows during the offseason.
Comprehensive:10
Expected failure:8.7-3.4
Regarding Nico Iamaleava's departure and Joey Aguilar's arrival, people have forgotten that Josh Heupel relied on running and had a lot of defense in 2024.
Comprehensive:8
Expected failure:8.1-4.1
Texas A&M Aggies will allow them to walk along Marcel Reed's arm. If he becomes a passer in the offseason, then in the SEC, the Aggies may have problems.
Comprehensive:3
Expected failure:9.6-2.8
Despite the disappointing first year of Alabama’s Kalen Deboer era, he is still a talented coach with a talented roster. They may be in the 2025 playoffs.
Comprehensive:2
Expected failure:10.1-2.3
If I had any team in the country to pay to win a national championship, it would be the most consistent team in the U.S. in the last five years, the Georgia Bulldogs.
Comprehensive:1
Expected failure:10.4-2.1
People like longhorns, computers like longhorns. If Texas doesn't play in the national championship game, it will be considered a disappointing season.
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