When Oklahoma and Michigan last met in Norman, the Sooners walked away with a 24-13 win and both programs left with plenty to sort through. A season later, the story around this matchup looks very different on both sidelines.
Oklahoma’s victory over the Wolverines helped set the tone for a strong start. The Sooners opened 2-0 and rode that momentum to a 10-3 season, with their third loss not coming until December in the first round of the College Football Playoff against Alabama.
After a 6-7 campaign in 2024, there were real questions about whether OU could handle life in the Southeastern Conference and whether Brent Venables could get the program pointed back in the right direction. The offense was under the microscope, too, with plenty of doubt about whether it could ever resemble the explosive Sooners teams from the 2010s again.
This past season didn’t turn into a return to the Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray days, but it was a step forward. John Mateer’s Heisman odds surged after the Michigan win, though a thumb injury in Week 4 against Auburn slowed everything down and knocked him out of the trophy race.
Even so, Oklahoma kept pushing. At 6-2 with four games left, the Sooners still had to navigate a difficult path if they wanted another shot at the CFP, with road trips to Tennessee and Alabama still ahead.
That stretch gave OU more of the same “Sooner Magic” it has leaned on before. In Knoxville, after a loss to Mississippi, R Mason Thomas helped spark the turnaround by recovering a fumble forced by Owen Heinecke.
Oklahoma carried that momentum to a 33-27 win over Tennessee. Then came Tuscaloosa, where the Sooners beat Alabama in a back-and-forth game highlighted by an early pick-six from Eli Bowen.
Those two wins over top-15 teams pushed OU into playoff position, only for Alabama to get revenge when the Crimson Tide came back to Owen Field and beat the Sooners in the postseason. That defeat left Oklahoma 0-5 in CFP games, and now the program is trying to get back to that level with a different finish this time around.
Michigan’s side of the story has been just as turbulent. The Wolverines turned to Bryce Underwood as their first-year quarterback and spent the year in a rebuilding phase.
They finished 9-4, but they lost every ranked opponent they faced. Underwood, who was once committed to LSU under Brian Kelly before flipping to Michigan, arrived as a former five-star and the nation’s No. 1 recruit.
In his true freshman season, he threw for 2,428 yards and 11 touchdowns, though plenty of Michigan fans still wanted more.
Now Underwood enters a new year with more experience and a new offensive system around him, and the expectation is that he can take another step. His 2026 debut against Western Michigan was uneven: 170 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception.
That touchdown came on the final play of the game in a controversial finish. He now gets a shot at Oklahoma after completing just nine passes in last year’s loss.
The biggest shakeup in Ann Arbor came off the field. Michigan dismissed Sherrone Moore for cause in December 2025 after a university investigation found evidence that he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
Moore, a former OU offensive lineman, was later arrested and initially charged with felony third-degree home invasion, misdemeanor stalking and misdemeanor breaking and entering or entering without breaking. Those charges were later dismissed in a plea agreement, and Moore pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of trespassing and malicious use of a telecommunications device.
He received 18 months of probation and no additional jail time.
With Moore gone, Michigan turned to Kyle Whittingham, who spent more than 20 years at Utah and went 177-88 there. The Wolverines are counting on his experience and steadiness after a few uneven seasons since the 2023 national championship. Whittingham’s first Michigan team is already facing a major test after a miraculous Week 1 win.
In Other News...
Sooners Protection Plan Just Changed Ahead Of Michigan
A week after opening the season with some shuffling up front, Oklahoma is set to get a little healthier where it matters most against Michigan. Jake Maikkula and Ryan Fodje are expected to be available after sitting out the opener, giving the Sooners more options on the offensive line as they prepare for a far stiffer test in Week 2.
Michael Fasusi, though, will reportedly be unavailable after re-aggravating a shoulder injury, leaving one more question mark in a group that already needed sorting out. There is also some good news elsewhere on the depth chart, with defensive end Danny Okoye expected back and wide receiver Parker Livingstone cleared through concussion protocol, but the line news is the part Oklahoma will be watching most closely heading into the matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Fans Have A Bittersweet Tress Way Story To Process
Tress Ways NFL run has entered its final chapter, with the longtime Washington Commanders punter saying he expects to retire after the upcoming season. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Way has spent his entire pro career with Washington since 2014 and built a rsum that includes multiple franchise punting records, making him one of the more durable and recognizable specialists of his era.
For Sooners fans, it is the kind of update that lands with a little extra weight because Way has been part of that familiar Oklahoma pipeline to the league. He was also just named a team captain for the season alongside Jeremy Reaves, a sign that Washington still values what he brings even as the end of the road comes into view. The only real question now is how one more year in Washington will unfold before the goodbye arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Sooner Nation Could Take Over More Of Michigan Than Expected
Less than 24 hours before kickoff in Ann Arbor, the market for Oklahoma-Michigan tickets has turned surprisingly soft, with some seats available in the $44 to $60 range. What had looked like one of the weekends pricier Big Ten-SEC matchups earlier in the summer has become a much easier entry point for Sooners fans who are still trying to make the trip north.
That drop has only added to the sense that Oklahoma could be backed by more than the usual traveling crowd. With Michigan fans cooling on the game after their recent performance, the balance in the stadium may lean more heavily toward crimson than many expected when the matchup was first circled. For a road team in a setting like this, that kind of noise shift can matter almost as much as anything that happens on the field. [Read more 🡒]