National media outlet makes prediction that could lead to a big change for the Oklahoma Sooners football program
CBS Sports made a prediction this week that could potentially lead to a big change for the Oklahoma Sooners football program if it proves to be accurate.
The national sports media outlet recently predicted how many games each SEC team will win during the regular season in 2025.
They aren’t predicting a “bad” season for Oklahoma, but they aren’t predicting a memorable one, either.
CBS Sports has Oklahoma going 8-4 during the 2025 regular season with losses to Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama.
From CBS Sports: It’s a make-or-break year for coach Brent Venables, and he’s betting on himself to win big. He will handle defensive play-calling duties this fall after recording a second losing season in three years. Venables also made big changes on offense in hiring Washington State coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who brought along top-tier quarterback John Mateer to turn around a struggling Sooners attack.
The offensive line should be better after leading the nation in sacks allowed, as they mixed and matched lineups during the first nine weeks of last season. The receiver room has to improve after an injury-plagued year led to infuriating inconsistency across the offense, which ranked 124th in yards per play (4.81) and 128th in yards per pass attempt (6.1). Venables pushed the right buttons in the offseason, but will it translate to more than six wins? Week 2 brings a home date with Michigan and an opportunity to get the program back on the map. Trips to Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina are troublesome. Still, it’s not difficult to find seven wins on the schedule. These Sooners could surprise in the SEC this fall.
If Oklahoma goes 8-4 in 2025, I think it’s at least 50/50 that head coach Brent Venables could be looking for a new job in December.
Venables is 22-17 through his first three seasons at Oklahoma. If the Sooners go 8-4 during the 2025 regular season, it would take Venables’ record at OU to 30-21. Respectable, but nowhere close to the standard that’s been created at Oklahoma
Former Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley, for example, went 45-8 during his first four seasons at Oklahoma. He went 55-10 overall during his five years in Norman.
Even former OU head coach Bob Stoops, who didn’t take over a great situation in 1999, went 43-9 during his first four seasons at Oklahoma.
Maybe Venables gets a fifth year if he fails to win double digit games in 2025. It’s too early to know what kind of decision OU might make in that scenario. But if the Sooners aren’t at least in the College Football Playoff conversation late in the season, I think it’s safe to say that Venables is going to feel his seat starting getting warm.
