Brent Venables enters 2026 in a far different place than he was a year ago, and that shift could ripple well beyond Norman.
Last season, the Oklahoma coach was staring at the kind of pressure that can swallow a program whole. Now, after steering the Sooners to the College Football Playoff, his own footing looks much sturdier. But while Venables may have bought himself breathing room, three SEC coaches on Oklahoma’s 2026 schedule could find themselves in far shakier territory if the Sooners make life miserable for them.
The most obvious name is South Carolina’s Shane Beamer. A former Oklahoma associate head coach from 2018-20, Beamer went 4-8 last season and nearly talked himself out of a job despite having one of the better quarterbacks in college football in LaNorris Sellers.
He’s 33-30 overall since taking over the Gamecocks in 2021, and he enters Year 6 with Sellers back and plenty of defensive talent returning. That should mean a rebound.
If it doesn’t, South Carolina may decide it’s seen enough.
Oklahoma visits Columbia on Oct. 31, after the midpoint of the season. If the Gamecocks are already spiraling by then, a lopsided loss to the Sooners could be the kind of blow that ends the Beamer era.
Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby is another familiar face with plenty on the line. It has been just over two years since he left Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator job to take over the Bulldogs, and the results have been rough.
Lebby is 7-18 in two seasons and still hasn’t produced a winning record. He has only one SEC victory, and in a league that demands fast results, Year 3 may be the last chance if the losses keep piling up.
The Sooners go to Mississippi State on Oct. 24, and that matchup looks like one Venables should be expected to handle.
Then there’s Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. His seat isn’t scorching right now, but it can heat up fast in Austin.
The Longhorns missed the College Football Playoff last season, and with the talent and resources at Texas, the standard is simple: get back or deal with the noise. If Sarkisian misses the CFP again, the calls will come.
Texas opens with Ohio State at home, then goes to Tennessee before facing Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. A 2-3 start, with the Sooners handing Texas one of those losses, would all but bury playoff hopes before October ends. Even a second early loss to Oklahoma could be enough to crank up the pressure on Sarkisian.
In Other News...
Brent Venables Just Earned National Respect For Oklahomas Bigger Rebuild
Brent Venables keeps getting evaluated through the usual Oklahoma lens, but this latest nod points to something bigger than wins and losses. He was placed on the Dodd Trophy preseason watch list for the 2026 season, a reminder that the award is built around scholarship, leadership and integrity as much as on-field results, and that his work in Norman has been noticed well beyond the box score.
For Oklahoma, it also fits the broader rebuild Venables has been pushing since taking over, with player development and leadership at the center of the message. The Sooners have had only one head coach take home the award before, Bob Stoops in 2003, so any mention of Venables in that conversation says plenty about how his program is being viewed as he keeps trying to reshape the culture. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Is Already Facing A Huge 2028 Fall Visit Test
With Oklahomas 2027 class sitting at 27 commitments heading toward Early Signing Day, the Sooners are already shifting some attention to the next wave and trying to get ahead of the 2028 board. Quarterback Trey Tagliaferri is in place as the programs first 2028 commit, but the bigger early challenge is figuring out which blue-chip defenders and other priority prospects will be willing to make Norman a regular stop as their recruiting cycle ramps up.
That makes the fall visit calendar a meaningful early test for the staff, especially with players like Keoni Snipes already on the radar and in-state prospect Kamieon Compton-Nero drawing plenty of outside attention as well. Oklahoma has offers out to several of the top names it wants to keep close, and the Sooners will be looking to turn that early interest into real gameday traffic before the 2028 race gets crowded. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Land Another Massive Recruiting Boost From In-State Commit
Gabriel Osborne Jr. keeps adding to an already eye-catching start for Oklahomas 2027 class. The Mustang cornerback, who committed to the Sooners on June 1, has now been bumped to five-star status in the latest Rivals 300 rankings and sits at No. 21 nationally, a rise that only sharpens the profile of a class that already looks loaded with top-end talent.
For Oklahoma, the bigger picture is hard to miss. Osborne joins offensive lineman Cooper Hackett and tight end Seneca Driver as five-star headliners in a 2027 group that Rivals has at No. 6 nationally with 27 commits, and the Sooners beat out heavyweights such as Miami, Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan to land him. The only real question now is how much more the class can climb if the momentum keeps building. [Read more 🡒]