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Kirk Herbstreit makes case for Oklahoma to make College Football Playoff at 9-3

FaceProfileby: Thomas Goldkamp09/24/25
Aug 30, 2025; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables walks with his team before the game against the Illinois State Redbirds at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
Aug 30, 2025; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables walks with his team before the game against the Illinois State Redbirds at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The game changed for Oklahoma on Tuesday, when news emerged of quarterback John Mateer suffering a broken bone in his hand that will require surgery. Suddenly a team that many thought might be a College Football Playoff contender will have to scramble.

Before the news came out, ESPN analysts Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway had an in-depth conversation about Oklahoma’s playoff chances. Herbstreit went to bat for the Sooners.

“This is what gets me so fired up at the end of the year in December,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t have any stock invested in Oklahoma or the SEC, but I as a fan can really respect a team that has to do what they (do). They’ve already played Michigan in the non-conference. They beat Auburn. And then we mentioned (they still play) Texas, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at ‘Bama, Missouri, LSU.”

The schedule is absolutely brutal. Few teams in the country face a murderer’s row like that to end the season.

That’s why, to Herbstreit, if Oklahoma can hold serve it deserves to be a playoff team. What would that look like?

“My point is if they’re 9-3 at the end of that…” Herbstreit said. “They go through that gauntlet, they’re 9-3. They will have played one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ranked teams. If they’re 9-3 or 10-2… 10-2 is a given; they’re 9-3 you don’t think that they would have a case against a team that’s 11-1 and played one ranked teams, two ranked teams?”

Herbstreit pointed out that Oklahoma will go on the road to South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. He wondered out loud if you could find three tougher environments to play in.

Then, the conversation pivoted back to the playoffs. Galloway pointed out there will almost certainly be a debate between an 11-1 team with a softer schedule and a 9-3 Oklahoma team.

“You know why that happens?” Herbstreit said. “People have been trained to just look at the left column. They have 11 wins. You know how hard it is to get to 11 wins? I would say do you know how hard it is to get to nine wins with that schedule?”