The Oklahoma Sooners have a lot riding on the 2025 college football season as a program. It’s year four of the Brent Venables era. Two of his three seasons have finished with 6-7 records, and he’s gone 0-3 in bowl games. Though there are certainly extenuating circumstances surrounding both years, that’s not the standard at Oklahoma.

And that makes 2025 a pivotal season for the Sooners’ head coach and the program as a whole. Another losing season, or even an average one at that, and the Oklahoma leadership may have some difficult decisions to make next December.

Although there’s always pressure to win at Oklahoma, this season might be the most pressure-packed year for the proud program. Pro Football Focus’ Max Chadwick included the Sooners among his college football teams under the most pressure in 2025.

A very lackluster offense that was hampered by injuries was the biggest culprit, as Oklahoma had the lowest PFF offensive grade in the Power Four last season (60.2). The Sooners’ defense is what ultimately got the program bowl-eligible, placing 12th in college football with a 91.4 PFF grade as a unit. Oklahoma’s defense remains strong entering 2025, and the team will look for transfers, such as quarterback John Mateer and running back Jaydn Ott, to jump-start the offense, though there are still serious concerns on that side of the ball. -Chadwick, PFF

Other teams facing a lot this season were USC, Florida State, Auburn, and Florida. Interestingly enough, the Sooners are tied to a number of these programs in one way or another.

Oklahoma and USC were a part of the biggest offseason coaching carousel in the last 25 years that saw Lincoln Riley go to USC, Venables arrive at OU, Brian Kelly leave Notre Dame for LSU, and Mario Cristobal leave Oregon for Miami.

Oklahoma lost to Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl in Venables first season. Despite a pair of 100-yard rushing performances by Gavin Sawchuk and Jovantae Barnes, the Sooners fell in the one-score game. Oklahoma went on to have a 10-2 regular season in 2023 while the Seminoles went undefeated and were left out of the College Football Playoff. Both programs disappointed in 2024 and Mike Norvell and Florida State went after former Oklahoma quarterback commits Kevin Sperry and Jaden O’Neal.

The Sooners and Auburn will be tied to the bit of trivia surrounding Oklahoma’s first win in the SEC. But also, Auburn will be led by Oklahoma’s former five-star quarterback Jackson Arnold.

Finally, the last team the Sooners are tied to, the Florida Gators, are simply battling a schedule as tough or tougher than Oklahoma’s. Billy Napier has disappointed in his first few seasons in Gainesville but managed to coach himself off the hotseat last year. Though the Gators and Sooners are facing incredibly difficult schedules in 2025, Venables is hoping for at least as much success as Florida had in 2024.

Brent Venables spent this offseason aggressively attacking the needs they had on the offensive side of the ball to return Oklahoma to expectations. And if the offense is good, the Sooners could be flirting with playing in the College Football Playoff.

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners among PFF’s teams under the most pressure in 2025