Bowls Projections Round-Up: Where The Oklahoma Sooners Stand After Week 10

Tyler Jones

Nov 5, 2025, 17:26

Tyler Jones

Nov 5, 2025, 17:26

Updated at: Nov 5, 2025, 17:28

Latest bowl projections for the Sooners from ESPN, CBS Sports, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, on3, The Athletic, Athlon Sports, and Saturday Down South

With just three games left in the regular season, the Oklahoma Sooners sit on the cusp of something special: a clear path to the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff—if they can simply win out.

Their remaining schedule is brutal, no question: a road trip to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama, followed by home dates against Missouri and LSU. Any single slip-up could derail the dream, and that’s exactly what most analysts are betting on.

The consensus? Oklahoma stumbles once, finishes 9-3, and watches the playoff door slam shut from the outside.That’s where the bowl projections come in, and they’re remarkably consistent.

Nearly every major outlet has the Sooners headed to Tampa for the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve, squaring off against a Big Ten foe—either Nebraska or Iowa. It’s a fitting landing spot for a team that’s good but not quite elite this year: the ReliaQuest (formerly the Outback Bowl, and before that the Hall of Fame Bowl) has long been the SEC-Big Ten consolation prize, reserved for top non-playoff teams from each league.

Oklahoma has never played in it, which adds a layer of novelty to what would otherwise be a familiar postseason script.The potential matchups carry serious historical weight.

If it’s Nebraska, it’s a revival of one of college football’s great rivalries. The Sooners and Cornhuskers were Big Eight blood enemies for decades, trading blows in classic games that defined the conference. Oklahoma holds the all-time edge at 47–38–3, including a 49-14 road win in Lincoln back in 2022—their most recent meeting.

The two programs have already circled 2029 for another showdown, but a bowl clash would serve as a delicious appetizer. For Oklahoma fans, it’s a chance to rekindle old grudges; for Nebraska, a shot at revenge against a team that dominated them in the 1970s and beyond.

Iowa presents a different flavor of intrigue, tied less to on-field history and more to personal legacy. The Sooners are 2-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes, with their last meeting coming in the 2011 Insight Bowl—a 31-14 Oklahoma victory under Bob Stoops.

That game was notable for being the only time Stoops coached against his alma mater, where he starred as a hard-nosed defensive back in the 1980s. Though the programs rarely cross paths, the Stoops connection gives this hypothetical matchup a built-in storyline that can’t be ignored.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach:

Kinder's Texas Bowl

NRG Stadium (Houston)

Saturday, December 27 at 8:15 p.m. CT, ESPN

Bonagura: TCU vs. Oklahoma

Schlabach: Houston vs. Oklahoma

CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford:

ReliaQuest Bowl

Raymond James Stadium (Tampa)