Oklahoma Sooners don't have the toughest schedule in the SEC per CBS Sports
The Sooners' schedule opens with FCS Illinois State, but then Oklahoma welcomes the Michigan Wolverines to town for a critical nonconference game. Oklahoma plays four of the top contenders to win the SEC in 2025 in Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, and LSU. There's no doubt it's a tough schedule, but not the toughest in the SEC, according to CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello. Marcello had the Sooners' slate ranked as the fourth most difficult schedule in the SEC in 2025.
The Sooners came in behind Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Arkansas and sat just one spot in front of the Florida Gators.
Oklahoma plays Temple before they play Auburn and has a bye week before they travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. The Sooners play Kent State before facing the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. The Sooners have a tough four-game stretch that starts with Texas and a road trip to South Carolina. They'll then take on Ole Miss before traveling to Knoxville to play the Tennessee Volunteers. OU's second bye week offers a bit of a reprieve, but then Oklahoma takes on Alabama, Missouri, and LSU to close the regular season.
If there's one thing that the Sooners have going for them, it's that Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Missouri will all have a new starting quarterback. Of that group, only Auburn's Jackson Arnold and Tennessee's Joey Aguilar have significant starting experience at the collegiate level.
Oklahoma only faces two quarterbacks in LaNorris Sellers and Garrett Nussmeier, who started for their teams in 2024.
Quarterback turnover doesn't guarantee the Sooners anything, but in a year where Oklahoma will have a good defense, facing some inexperienced quarterbacks along the way should make the schedule a little more manageable. Brent Venables believes the Sooners will rise to the occassion, regardless of the perceived difficulty of the schedule.
'We've got a lot to prove, and I like that," Venables said. "We know what our team is capable of. There's no game on our schedule that we can't win.'
It's a huge season for Oklahoma, coming off of a 6-7 season in 2024. If they've made improvements along the offensive line and have better injury luck, there's no reason why the Sooners can't compete in the SEC.
Oklahoma Sooners 2025 Football Schedule
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
"I got it up and stuffed it in, that started it, I guess" - Bob Kurland recalls the first dunk in college basketball history
"I got it up and stuffed it in, that started it, I guess" - Bob Kurland recalls the first dunk in college basketball history originally appeared on Basketball Network. The dunk is one of basketball's most electrifying moves — a moment of dominance and flair. Today, it fuels highlights, swings momentum and can define a player. But it wasn't always that way. The first recorded dunk in college basketball history came not as a spectacle, but as a regular play under the basket. Bob "Foothills" Kurland, a towering 7-footer from Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State) in the 1940s, who — almost by accident — helped change the course of the sport forever. "The ball happened to be under the basket. I got it up and stuffed it in. That started it, I guess." Kurland reflected. Kurland's first dunk didn't come with publicity or purpose. As he later recalled, it was sort of an accident. An Accidental Revolution At the time, basketball was still a game mostly played below the rim, and the dunk was a foreign skill to many players. Most of the players were vertically challenged guards, so dunking was a serious obstacle for them. Kurland, nonetheless, was special. He was 7 feet tall, with surprising agility for his size, so he didn't need to jump high to reach the rim. What seemed like an easy finish — dropping the ball through the hoop — soon became a movement. Other tall players began to follow the trend. Gradually, the dunk became a legitimate, high-percentage scoring method. His dominance and the dunk's rising usage didn't go unnoticed. Kurland led Oklahoma A&M to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1945 and 1946 and became a three-time Ban on Dunks Ironically, the dunk's growth eventually led to its ban, primarily due to dominant big men Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Due to his athletic abilities, he was able to dunk quite often and the NCAA wanted to limit him. In 1967, dunking was banned in college basketball, a rule widely believed to target Alcindor's dominance at UCLA. It remained prohibited for the next nine years. This decision, often called the "Lew Alcindor Rule," highlighted how far the dunk had come since Kurland's understated start. It was no longer an accident; it was now considered too adequate and disruptive a move that needed to be removed from the game to maintain balance. Ironically, banning it only made fans want it more. When the NCAA reinstated the dunk in 1976, the players were ready to display their dunks in a new era of athleticism that continues today. Kurland didn't set out to make history with a dunk. He wasn't trying to start a revolution or reshape how basketball was played. But in that spontaneous moment under the basket, he unknowingly sparked one of the most influential developments in basketball. Today, the dunk is more than just two points — it's a statement. And every time a player throws one down, they mirror Kurland's first gutsy dunk. He may not have meant to change the game, but he did just that in stuffing the ball through the story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
OKC Thunder jersey history No. 35 - Al Carson (1973-74)
The Oklahoma City Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics before them) have 51 jersey numbers worn by the players who have suited up for the franchise since its founding at the start of the 1967-68 season. To commemorate the players who wore those numbers, Thunder Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team. And while those Supersonics jerseys may not remain part of the franchise history should a new team be established in Seattle as was the case with the return of the Charlotte Hornets, they are part of the Thunder's history today. For this article, we continue with the 35th jersey number in the series, jersey No. 35, with 11 players in total having donned the jersey in the history of the franchise. The second of those players did so in the Seattle SuperSonics era, big man alum Al Carson. After ending his college career at Oregon, Carson would go unselected in the 1973 NBA Draft, instead signing with the SuperSonics. It was his sole season in the NBA, the Oceanside, California native heading abroad afterward. During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Carson wore only jersey No. 35 and put up 2.6 points and as many rebounds per game. All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference. This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Thunder jersey history No. 35 - Al Carson (1973-74)
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oklahoma Sooners add freshman kicker to the roster
The Oklahoma Sooners added a fifth placekicker to their official roster on Wednesday. True freshman Preston Tarpley joins OU by way of the Gunter (Texas) Tigers. He will wear jersey No. 33 and gives special teams coordinator Doug Deakin another new face in the search for the present and future of the kicker position. Tarpley replaces defensive back Jocelyn Malaska, who also wore No. 33, on the official roster for the Sooners. Oklahoma had Malaska on their initial pre-SEC Media Days roster by mistake. Malaska entered the portal this spring and transferred to Abilene Christian. Tarpley is a three-time state champion at the Texas 3A Division II level with the Tigers. What's more, he was Gunter's starter at quarterback, punter and kicker during his senior season in 2024, leading the small-town Tigers to the state crown. Tarpley isn't traveling far to join to Sooners in Norman, as Gunter sits in North Texas, where they have won five state titles since 2016. Tarpley joins a kicker room that also includes Tate Sandell, Austin Welch, Liam Evans, and Grayson Miller. Of OU's five kickers, only Evans was on the team as season ago. Deakin's special teams group is rounded out by punter Jacob Ulrich and long-snappers Ben Anderson and Seth Freeman. With the addition of Tarpley, Oklahoma's roster now has 111 total players. The Sooners have 54 offensive players, 49 defensive players, and eight special teams players. Tarpley is one of a staggering 46 newcomers to join OU in 2025, compared to 65 players who return from last season. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin. This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Sooners add fifth placekicker to 2025 roster
