During his Tuesday night show, Josh Pate’s College Football Show, host and friend of Heartland College Sports, Josh Pate, was discussing which team that is not an elite program that could crack into that elite program status over the next three years.
Programs such as LSU and USC received mentions, but one that did not make the cut was the Oklahoma Sooners.
When discussing OU, Pate said, “And then there’s Oklahoma, who I’m not going to mention, but I should be mentioning, because there’s no reason for me to have doubts about Oklahoma, but I have a little bit of doubt about Oklahoma, the fan base has a little bit of doubt about Oklahoma right now. But, just as much as you have doubt right now, there are so many built-in advantages of being at Oklahoma that it could be turned around. It should be turned around.”
Pate then goes on to note, “Brent Venables goes over there, he goes 6-7, but then he’s 10-3, and everyone thinks, we’re off and running. And then 6-7 happens again. And so, what is this suppose to mean? Are we just going to go from barely a bowl team to double-digit wins, cyclically? If so, 2025 is going to be a great year. I don’t know about Oklahoma.”
Related: This Might Be a New Low for Oklahoma Football
There’s no doubt that OU struggled it’s first year in the SEC, but OU also had one of the toughest schedules in the conference.
2025 won’t be much easier, with Oklahoma having to face Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama and Missouri, all teams who spent time in the Top 25 last season.
OU’s biggest struggles came on offense, so it will be up to new coordinator Ben Arbuckle and his quarterback John Mateer, who both come from Washington State, to put points on the board and get that side of the ball on track.
Oklahoma opens the 2025 season on Saturday, August 30th, against Illinois State.
You can watch Pate’s comments on Oklahoma at the 12:50 mark of his video here.
