Brent Venables has already done enough at Oklahoma to quiet the noise, but not enough to end the conversation. ESPN’s recent top 10 coach ranking left the Sooners’ head coach off the list, even after he guided Oklahoma to its first College Football Playoff appearance since 2019 last season.
That omission matters because the bar at Oklahoma is never low for long. Venables entered 2025 with plenty of heat around him, but a 10-3 season changed the mood fast. The Sooners now head into 2026 with CFP expectations hanging over them again, and that’s exactly where Venables can start building a case that he belongs among the sport’s elite.
One obvious path is simple: do it again. Oklahoma’s 2025 run had real teeth.
After midseason losses to Texas and Ole Miss, the Sooners caught fire and stacked wins over Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and LSU to reach the playoff. Their postseason ended with a 34-24 loss to Alabama, but the bigger picture was clear enough - the program was moving in the right direction under Venables.
The next step is consistency, and that’s where the résumé still has some holes. Venables’ first three seasons have followed a jagged pattern: 6-7 in 2022, 10-3 in 2023, then 6-7 again in 2024.
He can be given a pass for that first year, when he took over for Lincoln Riley, but the up-and-down rhythm has to stop if Oklahoma is going to treat him like a top 10 coach. Another strong season in 2026 would go a long way toward proving he can win year after year, not just in flashes.
Then there’s the playoff piece. Oklahoma has a proud history, with seven national titles, but the Sooners haven’t translated that into much CFP success.
Venables’ only playoff loss came last year against Alabama, when Oklahoma jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the second quarter before giving up 27 straight points and falling 34-24. Making the playoff is one thing.
Winning there is another. If Venables can finally deliver postseason success, his standing would rise quickly both in Norman and beyond.
And of course, there’s Texas. Venables has only four games against Oklahoma’s biggest rival so far, and the results haven’t been pretty.
The Longhorns have taken three of the last four Red River Rivalry matchups, including the last two, with the most recent a 23-6 Texas win over an OU team that did not make the CFP last year. Texas leads the series 65-51-5 overall, though Oklahoma has been better in the modern era with a 16-10 record since 2000.
The Sooners also won five of six regular-season meetings from 2016 to 2021 before Venables arrived.
For any Oklahoma coach, beating Texas is part of the job description. For Venables, stacking those rivalry wins is another key step if he wants to move from respected to unquestioned.
In Other News...
Where Oklahoma Stands In The SEC Enrollment Size Debate
The SECs enrollment conversation has become another way to measure the conferences reach, and the latest fall 2024 figures show just how wide the range can be. Texas A&M sits at the top with 60,710 undergraduates, while Vanderbilt is at the other end at 7,221, a spread that helps explain why school size can matter well beyond the classroom.
For Oklahoma, the interest is in where it lands inside that mix as the Sooners settle deeper into the league. Enrollment does not decide games, but it can shape student sections, ticket demand and the size of the alumni base that follows a program into the 2026 college football season, which is why this ranking has become more than a curiosity for SEC fans. [Read more 🡒]
Phil Steeles Oklahoma List Says Plenty About National Respect
The preseason respect keeps piling up for Oklahoma as the Sooners head into 2026 off their first College Football Playoff run as an SEC member. Phil Steeles preseason All-America teams included five Sooners, a sign that the national conversation has already started to catch up to what Brent Venables roster looks like on paper. Defensive tackle David Stone and linebacker Kip Lewis landed on the first team, while longsnapper Ben Anderson earned first-team honors and kicker Tate Sandell was placed on the second team.
Still, the list also shows there is plenty left for Oklahoma to prove once the games begin. The Sooners did not put an offensive lineman on Steeles preseason All-America teams despite returning four starters, a reminder that the front still has room to turn reputation into recognition. For a team trying to build on last seasons breakthrough, the early accolades are nice, but the deeper test will come from whether the rest of the roster can match the billing. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Could Be Sitting On A Late Summer Roster Opportunity
The late-summer roster market may not be done shifting just yet, and Oklahoma is one of the programs positioned to benefit if it does. The NCAAs new five-seasons-in-five-years rule is being challenged in court, and while the policy is not retroactive for now, the legal fight has already produced temporary injunctions in some cases, keeping the door cracked for former players to regain eligibility and re-enter the transfer portal.
For the Sooners, the timing matters because they still have one open roster spot and enough flexibility to create room for another if needed. If the court battles continue to tilt in that direction, Oklahoma could have a chance to take advantage of a late wave of available talent without having to scramble to make the numbers work. [Read more 🡒]