Oklahoma

Oklahoma Sooners fail to make ESPN's 2025 Way-Too-Early Top 25

Published

1 year ago

January 22, 2025

Oklahoma Sooners fail to make ESPN's 2025 Way-Too-Early Top 25

The 2024 college football season came to an end on Monday night in Atlanta, Georgia. The Ohio State Buckeyes won the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 34-23. It was the first national title for the Buckeyes in 10 years, as they won in the first year of the 12-team CFP. They also won the inaugural four-team playoff back in 2014.

With the season coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead to the 2025 campaign. After a disappointing 2024, the Oklahoma Sooners are looking to bounce back after going 6-7 in head coach Brent Venables’ third year. As many are beginning to compile early rankings for next year, there’s no guarantee that OU is included in the Top 25.

That is the case for ESPN. Staff writer Mark Schlabach put together his way-too-early college football top 25 for the 2025 season and the Oklahoma Sooners missed the cut. They were also excluded from the “also considered” category.

The Sooners were ranked in On3’s version of the list, as OU landed at No. 18. That goes to show the variance of what analysts believe Oklahoma could look like in 2025.

There were a total of nine SEC teams included in ESPN’s Top 25 as Texas, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Ole Miss all found their way on the list. Both Auburn and Missouri were teams that were also considered for the Top 25.

It’s a startling reminder of how far things have fallen under Venables’ leadership. The Sooners would be at best the No. 12 team in the SEC going into the season, according to ESPN. The head coach has to oversee a very dramatic turnaround in Norman, or he’ll be elsewhere in 2026.

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma Duo Captures SEC Weekly Awards

Published

2 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

A pair of Patty Gasso’s Sooners earned recognition for clutch performances against Ole Miss over the weekend.

Veteran Isabela Emerling was named SEC Co-Player of the Week after her clutch grand slam powered Oklahoma past the Rebels on Monday, and sophomore Audrey Lowry earned SEC Pitcher of the Week after two outstanding appearances.

Emerling, a redshirt senior, needed just one pitch to change Monday’s series finale.

She stepped in to pinch hit for freshman Allyssa Parker in the sixth inning and ruined Kyra Aycock’s outing.

Emerling connected with the first pitch she saw and parked a grand slam deep beyond the fence in left field to put OU on top 5-2.

It was Emerling’s 11th homer of the year, which is three shy of her career-high, and it was the seventh grand slam of her career.

She also homered in the Sooners’ mid-week triumph over Memphis and hit .545 for the week with a 1.091 slugging percentage.

Lowry pitched 7 2/3 total innings across two appearances against the Rebels and allowed zero runs.

She got the start in Saturday’s opener, then stepped in for Sydney Berzon with OU down 2-1 and shut the Rebels out to earn the victory in relief.

Lowry accounted for five strikeouts and gave up four free passes (two walks and two hit batters) in the pair of appearances.

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For the season, she’s now 15-1, which ranks third nationally in wins, and has a 2.08 ERA with a 52-9 strikeout to walk ratio across 67 1/3 innings of action.

Emerling and Lowry became the second OU duo to capture recognition in the same week, and it was the first time both have been honored individually by the SEC this season.

The No. 5 Sooners will be back on the road this weekend to take on No. 20 LSU.

The series will serve as a reunion for Avery Hodge and Paytn Monticelli, who are both former Sooners, as well as Berzon, who spent the first three years of her collegiate career in Baton Rouge.

Hodge transferred to LSU following the 2024 season, and Monitcelli departed Norman this past offseason.

Berzon is coming off her longest outing as a Sooner, where she threw 57 pitches and allowed zero earned runs on Monday against Ole Miss.

The series opener is scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m. on Friday.

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Oklahoma

UCLA vs. Oklahoma State – Second round NCAA tournament extended highlights

Published

15 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

UCLA vs. Oklahoma State – Second round NCAA tournament extended highlights

Women’s Basketball

March 24, 2026

UCLA vs. Oklahoma State – Second round NCAA tournament extended highlights

March 24, 2026

Watch the highlights from No. 1 UCLA and No. 8 Oklahoma State’s matchup in the second round of the 2026 women’s NCAA tournament.

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Oklahoma

Fire in Oklahoma City scrapyard produces massive smoke plume visible from downtown

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

Fire in Oklahoma City scrapyard produces massive smoke plume visible from downtown

A fire at a scrapyard near the OKC Fairgrounds has produced a massive plume of smoke visible in downtown Oklahoma City, officials report.

Oklahoma City Fire Department Assistant PIO John Chenoweth told The Oklahoman that the fire started at the scrapyard building near Northwest 10th Street and May Avenue, northeast of the OKC Fairgrounds.

The fire has been marked as “basically contained” as the Oklahoma City Fire Department is currently shifting to defensive methods. There are some active rubbish fires surrounding the metal building.

Chenoweth states there are no injuries, and all inside the building have been evacuated.

The cause of the fire and the extent of damage are unknown.

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Oklahoma fire map: See smoke, wildfires across state, red flag warnings

Track the latest wildfire and smoke information in Oklahoma with data that is updated frequently based on input from several incident and intelligence sources.

If you can’t see the map below, please click here.

How to prevent wildfires

While severely warm weather can worsen a wildfire spread, most are the result of human behavior. In fact, nearly 85% of wildfires in the U.S. are caused by humans, according to the National Park Service.

With its wide acres, rural areas and inconsistent weather patterns, Oklahoma is prone to grass fires. Forestry and safety experts offer several guidelines for residents on how to avoid starting a fire, which can often breakout from just one wrong spark.

Avoid using welding equipment.
Never drive on a flat tire.
Extinguish cigarettes completely before properly disposing of them, and never throw them outside of a window while driving.
Avoid parking on dry grass or dragging chains behind your car.

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