It’s now very clear that the Sooners are going into 2026 being looked at much differently than they were at the start of 2025
The Sooners are going to try and top what they did in 2025, in 2026.
The Oklahoma Sooners are being projected by every major outlet to start the 2026 season ranked higher than they were at the beginning of the 2025 season.
This time of year, everyone is overreacting to everything when it comes to college football. But that’s the fun in it all—already giving out our top-25 teams for next season when the rosters aren’t even finished. However, way-too-early top-25 rankings are fun to do, and they really help show what people think of a program going into the next season. When it comes to the Sooners, most national outlets have OU in the top-15 of their way-too-early top-25. OU started 2025 ranked No. 18 in the country. So, that’s an upgrade over last year.
Here is where every national outlet has OU in their way too early top 25:
Way too early top-25 rankings
CBS Sports: 10
CBS has the Sooners below the Ohio State Buckeyes and all of the other teams you would expect to be above OU. However, there are a few that stand out that shouldn’t be, like the Michigan Wolverines at No. 9, Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 5, Texas Tech Red Raiders at No. 7, and Texas A&M Fighting Aggies at No. 6. You can make arguments that should not be above OU. The Texas Longhorns are at No. 2, and while I’m fine with people having them above OU, 2 seems a bit high for them.
RJ Young of Fox Sports: 14
This one is a bit weird because I’m not opposed to OU being at No. 14. However, in what world is BYU, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and the LSU Tigers all better than Oklahoma? All of those schools were worse last season, and OU has some really good players returning.
ESPN: 12
This one also has BYU, Texas Tech, TAMU, ND, and Texas above OU. However, ND is at No. 3, and Texas is at No. 2. Not to mention, Oklahoma is behind the Ole Miss Rebels, which is fine—they played really well in the College Football Playoff. However, we have no idea whether they’ll be good enough under Pete Golding, with everything that’s changed with them, to be No. 9. But hey, there’s always going to be something we don’t agree with.
On3: 10
Once again, the Sooners are behind ND, Texas, TAMU, and Texas Tech. These are not only teams I feel like OU should be above, but also this far away from one another just doesn’t feel like.
A to Z Sports: 10
It feels like this is where we are going to see OU in most, if not all, way-too-early top-25 rankings. And, that’s fair; however, some of the teams we are seeing at the top just shouldn’t be there, and maybe shouldn’t even be above OU.
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