The home slate of the 2025 season is already over for the No. 22 Missouri Tigers as they close out with two back-to-back road games. First up is a date with No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday on the road in Norman
as the Tigers look to spoil the Sooners’ College Football Playoff hopes.
Kick-off on Saturday is set for 11:00 a.m. CST on ABC with Sean McDonough (pxp), Greg McElroy (analyst), and Molly McGrath (sideline reporter) on the call.
To preview Mizzou and Oklahoma, we discussed the matchup with Payton Guthrie from the “Through the Keyhole Pod”.
Here’s the Q&A to get you ready:
Sammy Stava: After their statement win on the road over Alabama, Oklahoma is now two wins away from clinching a spot in the 12-team playoff. What were the preseason expectations for the Sooners heading into this year?
Payton Guthrie: The Oklahoma fanbase has extreme expectations for the Sooners every single year without fail. Over here at Through the Keyhole, we mainly settled on an 8-4 season with lots of growth on offense after a horrible season. So far, this team has knocked those expectations out of the park from a results perspective.
The defense has actually improved from a banner year in 2024 and the offense…has a pulse. The biggest redeeming factor for this team is the depth that Brent Venables & co., have acquired to allow the Sooners to keep playing at a high standard. Beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa (first home loss since 2019) without the best player in R Mason Thomas speaks volumes to the program beat in Norman.
SS: Was this a make-or-break season for head coach Brent Venables in Year 4? What is the Sooner fanbases’ current feeling about him right now?
PG: Most coaches don’t get to year four after two seven loss seasons under their belt. The administration proved by Oklahoma should be considered one of the top jobs in college football by not panicking and actually doubling down in support of Brent Venables. Oklahoma hired Jim Nagy, long time Senior Bowl executive director, to overhaul the recruiting and NIL staff. OU also opened up the checkbook to bring in Ben Arbuckle, along with John Mateer, to help its flagging head coach.
So far? Those investments have borne fruit as the Sooners are not in the playoff hunt deep into the season.
All that said…another 6-6 season and Brent would have been sent packing.
SS: John Mateer leads the Oklahoma offense, and he was putting up Heisman type numbers earlier in the season when healthy. Though besides the quarterback position, who are some other names to watch on this Sooner offense? Who on the defensive side of the ball has made a big impact this season?
PG: While John Mateer has most of the hype around the Sooner offense the team lives/dies with the offensive line. The Sooners finally have settled on a starting five featuring three freshmen that have sparked the OU running game since Ole Miss visited Norman. Offensive line play can be a bit of a bore to watch so here is an easy name to follow:
Isaiah Sategna – 53 catches, 718 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Isaiah is the *only* playmaker of note in the wide receiver room for Oklahoma and is just as likely to drop a sure touchdown as he is to score from anywhere on the field. While he is extremely talented, Sategna highlights the Sooners lack of offensive consistency.
Defense is another beast all together. I could easily name every single starter as an impact player, but for this match up I’ll go with Kendal Daniels.
Daniels lines up as a “Cheetah” (LB/S hybrid) in the base defensive alignment and will be called on early and often to set the edge against a strong Missouri running game. If you’re hearing Daniels name a lot on the broadcast, it may be a good day for Oklahoma.
SS: What is the biggest strength on this Oklahoma team? What is their biggest weakness?
PG: The bestest strength for Oklahoma all season has been the defensive line. The Sooner DL is so ridiculous that I need to list out the numbers.
1st in Stuff Rate – 30.2%
4th in Sack Rate – 9.9%
4th in Pressure Rate – 40.7%
1st in Tackles for Loss – 102 TFL
2nd in Sacks – 37
Weakness?
John Mateer’s eyes. Ben Arbuckle’s offense has lots of wide open players running downfield. John Mateer isn’t seeing them. The offense continually stalls once he starts dancing around and plays “hero ball.”
While Mateer can make every big play and routinely delivers in high leverage situations, he struggles down to down.
SS: Oklahoma comes into this game as a 9.5-point favorite. How do you see this game playing out on Saturday in Norman? Have a final score prediction?
PG: Take the points!
This game will be a rock fight. I don’t see how Oklahoma could cover the 9.5 unless the defense cashes in on multiple turnovers. The game will be close into the fourth quarter until John Mateer makes a play to finally separate.
Oklahoma wins. 17 – 13
Thanks to Payton for his insight and answering our questions for our site as he expects a close game. Follow him and Through the Keyhole on Twitter (X) for Oklahoma coverage leading up to Saturday’s game.
