Oklahoma added plenty of skill players to give its offense a jolt in 2025. 

But if the Sooners aren’t able to take massive strides up front, the effectiveness of new quarterback John Mateer, running back Jaydn Ott and the host of wide receivers added by Emmett Jones will be limited. 

As dysfunctional as the offense was a year ago — a unit plagued by an offensive coordinator in over his head, a starting quarterback who proved to be a turnover machine and injuries that essentially wiped out the entire receiving corps — even the best coaching staff would have been unable to overcome the shortcomings up front. 

Center Troy Everett went down during the spring of 2024, and throughout the year, more and more linemen packed Oklahoma’s training room. 

The result was a disjoint unit that struggled to find any continuity, giving Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins little time to operate post-snap. 

If Mateer suffers the same fate this fall, no amount of starting experience will be able to help the Sooners turn things around on Ben Arbuckle’s side of the ball. 

Tackle Logan Howland and guard Heath Ozaeta, who finished the season as the left side of the offensive line, missed spring football to rehab offseason shoulder procedures. Otherwise, the line made it through spring without major incident — the first big win of the year for Bedenbaugh. 

With fall camp on the horizon, OU’s o-line guru must find real answers to have the offense ready to battle Michigan’s defensive front in Week 2. 

Veterans Jacob Sexton, Jake Taylor and Febechi Nwaiwu return alongside Howland and Ozaeta, though fans never truly saw the best of Sexton and Taylor a year ago as they both battled injuries.

Bedenbaugh also added experienced transfers in former Stanford interior offensive linemen Luke Baklenko and Jake Maikkula and Western Carolina tackle Derek Simmons. 

But the best-case scenario lies with OU’s underclassmen. 

Guard Eddy Pierre-Louis was the first name out of Brent Venables’ mouth when he was asked about underclassmen at SEC Media Days last week. 

 “You’ll see a lot of Eddy Pierre-Louis,” he said. 

Pierre-Louis was not an early enrollee last year, so he entered the 2024 season a bit behind. He played against Temple, Maine, Alabama and Navy, totaling 65 snaps on offense per Pro Football Focus, and he needs to win one of OU’s guard spots to raise the ceiling of the offensive line. 

Nwaiwu started every game at right guard. He was OU’s highest-rated guard who played a significant role, but with a PFF grade of 59.6 for the year, that’s hardly a high bar to clear. 

Nwaiwu played 864 snaps, allowing four sacks, 12 hurries and 16 quarterback pressures.

Ozaeta played 630 offensive snaps per PFF, and he also allowed four sacks, 11 hurries and 15 pressures. 

Bedenbaugh will have plenty of options at tackle. 

Sexton, Howland, Taylor and Simmons all have experience, but the best indication that the line will take a leap is if 5-star freshman Michael Fasusi finds his way onto the field. 

Barring injury, the Sooners won’t have to force Fasusi into action until he’s ready. Bedenabugh is traditionally conservative with his underclassmen, but the last time he trusted a talented freshman, the move paid off. 

Cayden Green was Bedenbaugh’s highest-rated commitment when he initially joined the Sooners. 

He earned playing time in the early stages of conference play in 2023, and by the end of the year, his future appeared to be incredibly bright in Norman. 

Fielding freshmen and sophomores increases the chances of mental miscues, but things couldn’t get worse than last year up front, and the line will have to make drastic improvements to lift the offense in 2025. 

Trusting underclassmen is a risk, but so was hiring a 29-year-old offensive coordinator with no SEC experience. 

Venables refused to play it safe when he hired Arbuckle. Bedenbaugh needs to follow the example of his head coach.

If the Southeastern Conference media pundits are correct, Oklahoma still isn’t SEC-ready.

The preseason media poll was released on Friday and the Sooners were projected to finish 10th in the Southeastern Conference standings this year.

That’s up from where OU finished its maiden voyage in the SEC — 13th out of 16 teams — but not anywhere close to where Brent Venables wants his program to be going into Year 4. Venables, though, doesn’t mind shifting into “prove it” mode.

“We’ve had a lot of changes since January,” Venables said Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “ … We’ve also had tremendous retention, which, foundationally for me, is what it’s all about.”

More bad news for Sooner fans: SEC media picked rival Texas to edge out Georgia for the league championship. After losing to the Bulldogs in last year’s title game and making the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, Texas (3,060 ballot points) continues to look fit for its transition from the Big 12 to the SEC, while Georgia (2,957) remains a strong contender.

No. 3 Alabama (2,783) and No. 4 LSU (2,668) are the other major contenders in this year’s voting, followed by No. 5 South Carolina (2,109), No. 6 Florida (1,986), No. 7 Ole Miss ((1,979), No. 8 Texas A&M (1,892) and No. 9 Tennessee (1,700).

OU received 1,613 points (16 points for a first-place vote, 15 for a second-place vote, down to one point for a 16th-place vote).

The Sooners were followed by Auburn (1,272), Missouri (1,170), Vanderbilt (936), Arkansas (764), Kentucky (512) and Mississippi State (343) to round out the poll. 

OU has been a trendy pick with some oddsmakers to even make this year’s 12-team College Football Playoff. 

The Sooners do have two of the top transfer portal arrivals in quarterback John Mateer from Washington State and running back Jaydn Ott from Cal. Ott was picked by media Friday as an All-SEC second team performer.

OU also brings back all five starters on the offensive line as well as three others who started at running back, but will have to integrate newcomers at wide receiver and tight end.

On defense, the Sooners lost All-American linebacker Danny Stutsman and all-conference safety Billy Bowman, but appear loaded at virtually every other position — including defensive line, where senior R Mason Thomas was named second-team All-SEC on Friday, leading what has been called the league’s best defensive line, although only one defender and three players overall were named preseason All-SEC by the media.

Winning a national championship is the most difficult task in college football, and the Big 12 might not be in the mix anytime soon.

Throughout the past few years, the Big 12 has undergone some significant changes. From a 10-team league headlined by big names such as Oklahoma and Texas in 2023 to a 16-team league without either of those schools in 2025, there is no doubt that the Big 12 is a clear reflection of this new era of college sports.

As times change, so do the ways teams compete for a championship. Over the past few years, the transfer portal has played a significant role in determining the college football landscape. 

For example, Oklahoma State was turning its season around by intercepting Kansas State’s Will Howard in 2023. Then, a year later, he was the starting quarterback for the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

At this point, it can feel like the only thing consistent about college football is inconsistency. However, one thing has stayed the same throughout all of these changes, and that’s how to build a national champion.

The blue-chip ratio gives the percentage of four or five-star recruits that a team has signed in the past four recruiting classes. In CBS Sports’ latest deep dive, it showed that every national champion in recent history has had a blue-chip ratio of at least 50%. 

Going into next season, 18 teams hit that mark. With a 12-team playoff field, that could lead to some excitement and some true heavyweight battles throughout. However, the Big 12 is the only power conference team without a single representative on the list.

OSU has never been known for getting the top recruits in the country, but that has also hindered it from truly taking the next step and becoming a national contender. Getting three-star talent and developing has been a hallmark of many of the typically successful teams in the Big 12.

While that can lead to 10-win seasons and an occasional playoff berth, it is unlikely to lead to a championship if the other side consistently has recruiting classes filled with top-end talent. It isn’t impossible for the Big 12 to win a national title in this era, but considering the conference hasn’t hoisted a national championship trophy since the 2005 season, this isn’t a new problem and it likely isn’t going away.