The Oklahoma Sooners are looking at a significant uphill battle if they want to make the College Football Playoff in 2025. After losses to Texas and Ole Miss over the last three weeks, OU is 6-2 with four games left.
The problem is, all four of those games come against good teams. The Sooners will get Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU over the next five weeks (including a bye week between the Volunteers and the Crimson Tide). One would think that Oklahoma has to get to at least 9-3 to even be considered for the CFP, meaning a 3-1 record in those four games.
Advertisement
In short, that’s a pretty big ask, and it’s leading to many believing that OU will have to settle for a bowl that is short of the playoff. That includes USA TODAY Sports’ Erick Smith, who has the Sooners out of the playoff in his latest bowl projections.
Smith has the Sooners in the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl, which will be played in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 30. It pits the SEC against the Big Ten, and Missouri beat Iowa in the game last year.
Oklahoma’s projected matchup in that game is Illinois. The two programs have met just once, with the Fighting Illini notching a 44-0 home win all the way back in 1917.
Illinois is 5-3 so far in 2025, with losses to Indiana, Ohio State, and Washington, but has a big win over USC earlier this year.
Advertisement
The Sooners still have an outside shot at winning their way into the playoff. Victories over Illinois State, Michigan, Temple, Auburn, Kent State, and South Carolina have afforded them that opportunity. The gauntlet continues this weekend in Knoxville, as OU needs to play its best football of the season if it wants to avoid two losses turning into three.
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 not in the playoff in newest USA TODAY Sports bowl picks
