Danny Kanell reacts to Ole Miss beating Oklahoma, updates their College Football Playoff chances

Following its 34-26 home loss to No. 8 Ole Miss Saturday afternoon, Danny Kanell has eliminated Oklahoma from College Football Playoff contention.

Oklahoma opened the season with an unblemished 5-0 record, which catapulted it to No. 6 in the country ahead of its ‘Red River Rivalry’ showdown against Texas. The Sooners dropped that game 23-6, but then bounced back the next week and dominated a struggling South Carolina program 26-7. However, it lost its second game in its last three on Saturday.

Brent Venables‘ team now sits at 6-2 (2-2), but has a gauntlet of No. 17 Tennessee, No. 4 Alabama, No. 15 Missouri and No. 20 LSU looming over the course of the final four weeks of the regular season. They would likely have to run the table to get to 10-2 (6-2) in order to slip into the CFP, but that would take a herculean feat.

Oklahoma. Eliminated.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) October 25, 2025

A major factor into Oklahoma‘s two losses has been the play of quarterback John Mateer, who has struggled mightily since suffering his hand injury in the Sooners’ 24-17 win over No. 22 Auburn on Sept. 20.

Mateer’s injury has derailed Oklahoma’s season

In the four games prior to the injury, Mateer passed for 1,215 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions. In the three games he’s played in since undergoing hand surgery, he’s passed for just 575 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He has been playing with tape on his hand, and he discussed it earlier this week.

“We use a couple different (tapes),” Mateer said. “I know I wanted the KT tape. I honestly like the black tape, I think it looks cool. But there’s also benefit to it. This is the second version of the wrap. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t thick, so it didn’t keep my thumb off the ball. But it was fine. It’s healing, but yeah, it’s not hard.”

Meanwhile, No. 8 Ole Miss improved to 7-1 (4-1) with the win and seems to be on its way to a College Football Playoff appearance for the first time in program history. Along with eliminating OU, Kanell revealed that he thinks the Rebels punched their ticket to the CFP with the win.

Ole Miss most likely just punched their ticket into the College Football Playoff

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) October 25, 2025

Oklahoma made an appearance in four of the first six editions of the College Football Playoff (when just four teams were selected), but has now missed the CFP in five consecutive seasons. This streak now looks like it will extend to six seasons following the loss to Ole Miss.