The Oklahoma Sooners need a bounce-back season in 2025. OU went 6-7 overall in head coach Brent Venables’ third season last year, which included a 2-6 league record in their first season in the Southeastern Conference. They’ve retooled the offensive side of the ball to go with what was a strong defense in 2024. Although they were picked to finish 10th in the SEC, there are a number of analysts, like Josh Pate, who believe they are a top-10 caliber team.
Now, the Sooners enter Venables’ fourth year and their second year in the SEC, needing to prove the naysayers wrong after the disappointment of 2024. They’ll face a challenging schedule that includes home games against Illinois State, Michigan, Auburn, Kent State, Ole Miss, Missouri, and LSU, as well as road games against Temple, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Of course, Oklahoma’s schedule also includes the annual Red River Rivalry matchup against Texas and the neutral-site Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
OU has to deal with one of the toughest schedules in the country this year, but the Sooners have made plenty of moves this offseason to improve on the product they put on the field last season.
J.D. PicKell, who covers college football for On3 Sports, has been vocal in his opinion this offseason that Oklahoma will be much improved in 2025. However, he said this week on “The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell” that he believes OU needs a few things to go right this year to have the kind of success Sooner Nation is used to.
PicKell’s biggest need for the Sooners this year is for new starting quarterback John Mateer to have an excellent season. PicKell has reason to believe that will happen, given Mateer’s relationship with new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle.
It’s night and day different when it comes to how stable they are and and what you can actually look at from playing games in the college football world on Saturdays and how you feel about it. You’re not forecasting. You’re forecasting to the SEC to a degree, but you’re not forecasting if John Mateer can play D1 FBS football or not. You were a year ago with Jackson Arnold. You were a year ago with your offensive line and your offensive coordinator. You’re not right now. You know Arbuckle and Mateer work well together. – PicKell, – The Hard Count
PicKell went on to elaborate that Mateer, who was brought in by Venables and his staff to be the difference offensively, has to, in fact, be the difference-maker at the QB position they hope he is. The Sooners didn’t have anything near that at QB in 2024, which is a big part of the reason why Mateer now resides in Norman. PicKell stated that Mateer has to be able to make the plays that win Oklahoma games in the fourth quarter in the SEC.
Another “need” that PicKell outlined for the Sooners this year was a top-tier season from their defensive front-seven, especially on the defensive line. He believes that OU needs that group to be at their best in the biggest moments, just like Mateer needs to be for the offense.
With bringing back the majority of your defensive line, that has to show itself in the biggest spots against those teams. Like, in the ‘big dogs’ tier of college football, you’ve got to have the big boys on the defensive side; and they do, but I want to see them play like it in those spots. – PicKell, The Hard Count
Although the Sooners lost plenty of veteran talent, leadership and production on defense this year, especially in the front seven, they returned and retained plenty of good players as well. Guys like R Mason Thomas, Gracen Halton, Kobie McKinzie and Kip Lewis will now be counted upon to be the building blocks of the Venables defense in 2025.
PicKell also stated that the 2025 Sooners must understand and embrace the weight of what it means to be playing football at the University of Oklahoma, something he thinks may not have been extremely present in 2024. Because at a place like Oklahoma, a 6-7 season isn’t going to cut it. The expectation is to compete for championships. PicKell believes this year’s team may have a better understanding of what it means to play at the University of Oklahoma.
PicKell believes this year’s team has an extra confidence and swagger to them that might have been lacking a year ago in Norman. He also feels strongly that Oklahoma will be far better this season than they were last season. Sooner fans are hoping he’s right.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: J.D. PicKell thinks the Sooners need John Mateer, DL to be great