Oklahoma’s first two years in the SEC have already produced a reminder that nothing comes easy in this league, and Paul Finebaum thinks the 2026 schedule might look brutal on paper while still leaving room for optimism in Norman.
That’s a useful split-screen for Sooners fans. The program just finished an improbable 10-3 season despite navigating a punishing run of ranked opponents.
Michigan, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama all came to Norman in a late-season stretch that also included home games against Missouri and LSU. It was the kind of closing stretch that made a 10-win finish feel far from guaranteed.
The bad news is that Oklahoma doesn’t appear to be getting a break in 2026 either. Finebaum pointed out the difficulty of the slate on The Paul Finebaum Show, but he also highlighted the part that should give Oklahoma fans something to hang onto.
"That Georgia game is certainly tricky," Finebaum said on 'The Paul Finebaum Show.'"Michigan. As you look at that schedule, some have ranked it as the toughest in the SEC... there's a lot of reason to be optimistic, (Texas) A&M at home, Ole Miss at home."
That home-heavy finish is the key difference from last season’s grind. Oklahoma’s final six games include Mississippi State, Kentucky, Florida and Missouri, and Texas A&M and Ole Miss both come to Norman. Compared with the 2025 stretch, it’s a more manageable closing run.
So while the overall schedule still looks unforgiving, the Sooners have a path to build something if they get rolling early. In a league like this, that kind of momentum can shape everything that follows.
In Other News...
Sooners Fans Still Can't Agree On These Costly Portal Misses
The transfer portal has given Oklahoma plenty to evaluate, and not every swing has landed the way fans hoped. John Mateer still has another year to show what he can become, but the bigger conversation around recent additions has centered on players who arrived with real expectations and never quite matched them on the field.
Dasan McCullough and Jaydn Ott are the names that keep coming up for all the wrong reasons, while Austin Stogners return offered familiarity without a true return to his earlier impact. For a fan base that has watched the Sooners chase roster upgrades through the portal, those misses have become part of the larger debate over how much certainty there really is in this era of college football roster building. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Fans Still Hate How These Portal Losses Aged
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Theo Wease Jr. adds another layer to that frustration because his time in Norman never quite matched the promise that made him such a coveted recruit. He flashed in 2020 and then left behind the sense that Oklahoma had only begun to tap into what he could do, which is exactly the sort of unfinished business that tends to linger when a program is trying to build around continuity. And while one high-profile name was left out of the discussion for obvious reasons, the broader point remains the same: the Sooners have spent plenty of time watching former players become bigger stories elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahomas Offensive Line Faces Its Biggest Test Since The 2024 Mess
Oklahomas offensive line took a real step forward in 2025, especially in pass protection, after the mess that defined the previous year. The run game still lagged behind, but there was enough improvement to give Brent Venables some reason to believe the group could keep building, particularly with the continuity and experience that had started to settle in.
Now the Sooners have to answer their biggest personnel question of the offseason without one of the units most dependable voices. Febechi Nwaiwu is gone, and with him goes a veteran presence Venables viewed as part of the lines leadership backbone, leaving Oklahoma to sort out which returning blocker can fill that glue-guy role as the 2026 season approaches. [Read more 🡒]