The Auburn Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners clash on September 20. The day will mark a full circle moment for Oklahoma transfer QB Jackson Arnold as he faces his former teammates and looks to exploit the weaknesses of the Sooners' defense.
Likewise, Venables also holds the power to exploit Arnold's weaknesses, pressing him right where it hurts to turn the tables against them. Arnold's terrible turnover rate is his most commonly known flaw, but being his former head coach, Venables should know exactly where he falters in reading the opposite teams' plays, and how to fluster him through that.
And since Venables has been in the game longer, this tacit knowledge will be one of the main reasons why Saturday Down South's Connor O'Gara believes that the Sooners will take home a 27-17 win against the Tigers.
"In what’s arguably the juiciest breakup battle of the 2025 slate, the home Sooners get the last laugh with Arnold. It’s not that John Mateer looks significantly better in that battle. It’s more that Brent Venables knows the exact way how to fluster his former quarterback," O'Gara writes.
"That means R Mason Thomas and that OU pass rush lives in the Auburn backfield. After 3 games in which Auburn does a banner job of keeping its signal-caller clean, Arnold’s turnover-prone ways surface at the worst possible time. OU pulls away with a 27-17 win in Arnold’s return to Norman."
Another perspective that makes this prediction more believable is Arnold's reputation in the Plains. He is yet to establish himself as the QB who can salvage the
program from its losing streak.
The latest released version of the AP Top 25 left Auburn unranked, making it the 55th consecutive poll where the Tigers were not on the board. Interestingly, the last time this happened was from 1964-1968, and the Tigers were left unranked for exactly 55 consecutive polls before Pat Dye broke the curse.
If Freeze fails to go unranked for another poll, he would be considered one of the worst coaches in program history, even speeding up his potential firing.
If the Sooners were to win against the Tigers per O'Gara's prediction, it would be a five-loss season for Auburn. The analyst also predicts another Iron Bowl loss against Alabama for Freeze's program. If so is the case, Freeze and his team will be left with a neither-winning-nor-losing record: 6-6.
We'll see how that scenario might turn out for the Tigers head coach.