The Oklahoma Sooners have proved themselves enough in the 2024 season when it came to their D-line success. But does that mean Brent Venables‘ seat is all cool? Absolutely not. Well, moving into the 2025 season, Oklahoma Sooners head coach has too many things on his plate. Venables is yet to figure out how his move to add Ben Arbuckle, the former Washington State offensive coordinator, is paying off. On the other hand, their quarterback, John Mateer, is carrying a huge responsibility on his shoulders.

As the chaos keeps growing, a nightmare must be haunting Venables in his sleep every day. And what’s that? The national championship. The last time the Oklahoma Sooners won a national title was in 2000. That makes a huge drought of 25 years. While Venables can already feel the jitters, thinking about the gap, analyst Phil Steele comes with a dose of courage for the Sooners’ head coach. 

Steele ranked each team from No. 1 through No. 136, providing a fascinating baseline for the year. But fans are more interested in the big trophy and the Natty contenders. According to Steele, nine programs will run the final race, and he sees Venables’ program as one of the runners.

On the July 9 episode of the Jox 94.5 podcast, host Cole Cubelic asked Steele, “How many teams would you say going into this year do you believe can win a national championship? I don’t need you to name all the teams, but if you were to put a number on it, would it be more in the 34 range, 68 range, [or] more than eight?” Steele replied, “I would put about nine this year. I would say, and I’ll just name them quickly. Penn State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, and Oklahoma.”

For years, Oklahoma had some of the best offenses in college football, but was held back by its defense. But last year, the tables turned. However, moving into this season with a mission to reach the finishing point and lift the trophy, everything has to come together. Venables has been the game changer when it came to the Sooners’ defensive line. They went from 122nd to 79th to 19th. With his Oklahoma and Clemson chapters combined, Venables established himself as the PRO when it comes to defensive coordinators. He made his defensive line a tough nut to crack by assembling his coaching staff with the best, like Nate Dreiling as the inside linebackers coach and Wes Goodwin as the outside linebackers coach. 

USA TODAY Sports‘ Blake Toppmeyer believes Venables’ team could be one of the sleeper teams to contend for the national title. “Oklahoma’s roster looks substantially better on the heels of a losing season that sparked Brent Venables to bring in quarterback John Mateer from Washington State. Mateer’s offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, followed the quarterback to Norman to run Oklahoma’s offense. Win-win. Another win: Landing standout running back Jadyn Ott, a California transfer. Oklahoma returned a lot of production, and it surely can’t be as injury-plagued as last season.” However, there still remains a big hurdle.

A test of grit for Brent Venables’ Oklahoma Sooners

SEC insider Chris Marler came up with a fresh serving of fear for Venables and his boys. They again fell prey to the bias. “Oklahoma has got nine opponents next season that have odds currently to win the national championship among the top 25 in the country,” stated Marler. And who is going to make Venables’ boys’ life a lot tougher? Michigan, Auburn, Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU. But Oklahoma gets the assurance that they will be able to keep their head above water and sail through.

Venables is going to flip the script, and some other program will get their biggest lesson from the Sooners club. As On3’s J.D.PicKell dropped his bold projection, “I have no idea, but I would not be shocked in the slightest if we’re looking up at the end of the year and saying, ‘Oh man, that team, if they just hadn’t lost to Oklahoma, they could be in the playoff.’”

Even though Venables walks with a 22-17 record, he is believed to be the game changer. After all, he has proved himself before, also. The head coach has pulled up his program that ranked second-to-last in the SEC in scoring offense, averaging 24.3 points per game. However, this year, Venables locked in the power duo, Arbuckle and John Mateer.

Brent Venables’ quarterback has already passed the quality check. As Sooners insider Josh Callaway gave him good grades. “I mean so far A+ for John Mateer in particular. Ben Arbuckle, too. But John Mateer, in particular, he’s got the fan base fired up.” As a redshirt sophomore in 2024, Mateer earned an offensive grade of 83.4. Plus, he is carrying with him a rushing grade of 86.2 as he earned the fourth spot among all NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks. He’s shown the Sooners still pack a punch, but can Venables punch through a 25-year championship wall?