John Williams, Sooners WireMon, December 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM UTC·1 min readThe Oklahoma Sooners took care of business against LSU on Saturday. With the dust settled on the regular season, the Sooners are a 10-2 team and have done their part to earn a College Football Playoff berth.
Well, the direction is clear with Brent Venables at the helm. Venables has created a dominant defense that has carried an explosive but inefficient Oklahoma offense. Coming out of Week 14, the Sooners are among the top 10 teams in the nation at this point and holding steady in the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 at No. 8. They're also No. 8 in ESPN's latest power rankings.
It's difficult to say there's anything surprising about a Brent Venables defense being elite. But after losing defensive stars Billy Bowman Jr. and Danny Stutsman to the NFL draft, it might have been hard to imagine the Sooners could be this good. - Eli Lederman, ESPN
It's an incredible feat that Oklahoma was able to improve as much as they have after the losses of Bowman, Stutsman, Ethan Downs, Da'Jon Terry, Trace Ford, Caiden Woullard, and Woodi Washington. But that's a testament to the development of the players and the recruiting of the coaching staff.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt may have taken a few years to get things heading in the right direction, but in year four of the Venables era, the Sooners have the defense that was expected when Venables arrived. And it's a defense that can make the Sooners a problem in the College Football Playoff.
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.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners at No. 8 in ESPN's latest power rankings
AdvertisementAdvertisement
