Oklahoma Sooners Start Season Unranked for First Time Since 1999, Signaling a Pivotal Turning Point in Program’s Proud Legacy
Guess who’s unranked to start the season for the first time since 1999? The Oklahoma Sooners — a program synonymous with success, tradition, and relentless consistency — find themselves on the outside of the preseason rankings for the first time in a generation. For fans who have lived through nearly three decades of dominance, the absence feels jarring. For critics, it feels overdue. And for the team itself, it might just be the kind of wake-up call they needed heading into the most critical season in recent memory.
It’s easy to dismiss the preseason rankings as meaningless — and in many ways, they are. Championships aren’t won in August, and the polls often miss the mark more than they hit. But for a program like Oklahoma, whose presence in the preseason top 25 has been taken for granted for over two decades, this omission is symbolic. It marks the end of an era of automatic respect. It signals to the college football world that, for now at least, Oklahoma must earn everything it gets.
The last time the Sooners were unranked in the preseason was in 1999, Bob Stoops’ first year at the helm. Back then, Oklahoma was a sleeping giant, still recovering from the turbulence of the post-Switzer years. Within one season, Stoops had the Sooners knocking on the door of greatness, and by 2000, they were national champions. That team didn’t need preseason rankings to define its ceiling. It forged its identity on the field, one game at a time, driven by a collective desire to restore pride in the program.
Now, 26 years later, the parallels are impossible to ignore. Once again, Oklahoma is being counted out. Once again, the national media has shifted its focus elsewhere. And once again, there is a coach — Brent Venables — trying to build something from the inside out, brick by brick, culture first. This isn’t a death sentence for Oklahoma football. But it is a clear indication that the margin for error is gone, the benefit of the doubt has evaporated, and the Sooners will have to fight their way back into the conversation.
The reasons for the preseason snub aren’t without merit. Oklahoma finished the 2024 season with a thud, dropping critical games down the stretch and showing alarming inconsistency on both sides of the ball. After an emotional high in beating Texas in the Red River Rivalry, the Sooners looked like a top-10 team. But then came the narrow loss to Kansas, the letdown against Oklahoma State, and the late-season struggles that turned a promising year into a forgettable one. The defense, while improved statistically under Venables, still gave up big plays at key moments. The offense, led by Dillon Gabriel, never quite found its rhythm against better opponents.
Now, Gabriel is gone, and in his place stands Jackson Arnold, a highly touted but unproven young quarterback. Arnold has all the tools — a strong arm, good mobility, and a high football IQ — but he’s still learning, still adjusting, still figuring out how to lead a locker room full of players who’ve been through more downs than ups in the past two seasons. In most years, a program breaking in a new quarterback would at least have the luxury of easing him into the season. But this is the SEC now, and Oklahoma’s early slate is anything but forgiving.
That’s part of the equation, too. The Sooners are no longer kings of the Big 12. They’re entering a new league, where the physicality is different, the depth charts are longer, and the weekly grind is relentless. There are no off weeks. No breathers. Just one high-stakes game after another. For voters — coaches and media alike — it’s easy to look at that combination of factors and decide that Oklahoma simply isn’t ready.
But to those inside the program, and to fans who have followed closely, the unranked status is just more fuel. Because for all the hand-wringing and skepticism, there are reasons for optimism in Norman. Arnold, while young, has drawn comparisons to past OU greats for his composure and work ethic. The offensive line returns key pieces and added talent through the portal. The receiver room may not have a marquee name yet, but it’s loaded with young speed and size. And most importantly, the defense — the true lifeblood of any Brent Venables team — is finally starting to resemble the units he built at Clemson.
This is Year Three for Venables, often the make-or-break season for a head coach. The roster is now fully his. The systems are in place. The recruiting has improved, and the culture — though not yet producing championships — has been steadily reshaped. Venables knows he was not hired to maintain the status quo. He was hired to overhaul it, to bring a level of physicality and discipline that had been missing in the final years under Lincoln Riley. That kind of transformation doesn’t happen overnight. But this fall, the patience may begin to pay off.
Being unranked provides a certain freedom, too. For the first time in years, Oklahoma enters a season without the weight of playoff expectations or Heisman campaigns. There’s no national media microscope dissecting every decision, no weekly speculation about legacy or failure. The Sooners can play football — raw, honest football — with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. That mentality, historically, has served them well. The 2000 team had it. The 2015 squad, after missing the playoff the year before, had it. Now, this 2025 team will have it too.
The key will be resilience. There will be adversity — perhaps more than in previous seasons. The move to the SEC guarantees it. The path back to respectability is not just about winning games; it’s about how Oklahoma wins them. Do they control the line of scrimmage? Do they finish games strong? Do they make the routine look routine again? Those are the signs that will determine whether this program is trending back toward the top or settling into the middle.
Recruiting remains a bright spot, a sign that the foundation is being built with purpose. The Sooners’ 2025 and 2026 classes are loaded with top-tier talent, particularly on defense. Linebackers, edge rushers, and physical corners — exactly the kind of players Venables has always relied on — are signing up to be part of the rebuild. The idea isn’t just to compete in the SEC. The idea is to dominate it. That vision might be hard to see from the outside right now, especially with no number next to the team’s name. But inside the program, that belief hasn’t wavered.
This season, then, becomes a referendum of sorts — not just on Venables, but on Oklahoma’s identity as a whole. The Sooners can no longer rely on past glory to secure their place in the sport’s elite tier. They must earn it anew, play by play, Saturday by Saturday. It won’t be easy. But it never was. The past two decades of preseason rankings made it feel that way, but the truth is, every dynasty is built on grit long before it’s built on glamour.
So yes, Oklahoma is unranked to start the 2025 season. And yes, that stings for a fan base that has grown used to respect, relevance, and ranking. But it also creates an opportunity. To rebuild. To refocus. To rediscover the toughness that defined the early 2000s. Because the Sooners’ journey back to national prominence won’t be charted in August. It’ll be forged in October and November, against SEC powers, in hostile environments, with everything on the line.
This isn’t the end. This is the beginning — again. Just like 1999. Just like the last time the nation forgot what Oklahoma football was capable of.
And if history is any guide, it won’t be long before they remember.
