Oklahoma’s 2025 football schedule is set to be even more challenging than this year.
On Wednesday night, the Southeastern Conference revealed its 2025 conference schedule, and it showed that OU will face an even tougher slate next year than the already difficult one they had in 2024. The Sooners’ final seven games next season are against teams that are playing in bowl games this year, with six of those teams having defeated Oklahoma in 2024. Coach Brent Venables is pleased with this tough schedule, emphasizing that it’s exactly what he wants for his team.
“It’s exciting. It’s an easy thing to sell,” Venables said during the ESPN schedule reveal. “Kids are drawn to competing on the biggest stages and in the largest venues. They want a challenge — the right kind of players do. They’re excited about the challenge and don’t want something easy. This conference is known for being the toughest, deepest, and most exciting in all of college football, and players are attracted to that.”
Oklahoma’s non-conference schedule begins on August 30 against Illinois State, then gets more intense with a matchup against the 2023 national champion Michigan on September 6. The Sooners will then travel to Philadelphia to face Temple on September 20.
After starting SEC play at home on September 20 against Auburn — one of the few teams they defeated in 2024 — they will have a bye week, followed by their last non-conference game against Kent State.
From that point on, Oklahoma faces a brutal schedule. The Sooners will meet Texas for the annual Red River Rivalry in Dallas on October 11 (OU is the visiting team next year). On October 18, they will travel to South Carolina for their first-ever visit to Columbia. They will conclude October by hosting Ole Miss.
November will be a particularly tough stretch for Oklahoma, beginning with a road game at Tennessee on November 1 — their first visit there since Baker Mayfield’s breakout performance in 2015. After another bye week, OU faces a challenging closing stretch: a road trip to Alabama (their first-ever visit to Tuscaloosa), followed by home games against Missouri (a team Oklahoma has dominated with 18 straight home victories over them) and LSU (who has never played at Oklahoma’s Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium).
This year, Alabama was the only conference victory for Oklahoma, though the game in Tuscaloosa next year will be a much tougher challenge.
In their first year in the SEC, Oklahoma struggled with a 2-6 conference record, marking their worst winning percentage in league play since 1931. Venables described the experience as a “baptism by fire.”
The Sooners dominated the Big 12 in their final seasons there, winning 14 conference championships, but haven’t claimed a title since 2020.
In Oklahoma’s first two seasons in the SEC, the conference has kept its traditional eight-game league schedule. However, changes are expected in 2026, with a likely shift
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