Oklahoma’s 2026 schedule preview turns to Missouri, and the Tigers arrive with a clear identity: a team built around experience up front and a few proven playmakers who can carry real weight on both sides of the ball.
Missouri finished 2025 at 8-5 overall and 4-4 in SEC play, good for eighth in the conference. Eli Drinkwitz enters his seventh season in charge, with a 46-29 record, and the Tigers will bring back seven starters for 2026 - six on offense and only one on defense.
That split tells you plenty about where Missouri’s strength is likely to be. The offensive line returns three key pieces in Cayden Green, Dominick Giudice and Curtis Peagler.
Green started 11 games at left tackle, while Giudice logged 13 starts at left guard and Peagler made 13 starts at right guard. That kind of continuity matters, especially in a league where the trenches decide plenty of Saturdays.
Missouri also brings back a handful of skill players who already showed they can produce. Tight end Brett Norfleet caught 31 passes for 254 yards and five touchdowns.
Wideout Donovan Olugbode added 30 receptions for 401 yards and two scores. And in the backfield, Ahmad Hardy was the workhorse, piling up 256 carries for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns.
On the defensive side, the Tigers’ most important returnee listed is tackle Marquis Gracial, who posted 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and one forced fumble. With only one returning starter on that side, Missouri’s defense will have a different look, even if Gracial gives them a known piece to build around.
For Oklahoma, Missouri looks like one of those SEC opponents that can lean on veteran offensive line play and a back who already proved he can handle a heavy load.
In Other News...
John Mateer Just Sent Texas Fans A Message Theyll Hate
A little more than two months before Oklahoma meets Texas again, John Mateer found himself on camera at UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma City and made sure the rivalry still has a pulse. The Sooners quarterback flashed the horns down sign, a small gesture that carries plenty of weight in this matchup and is exactly the kind of thing that gets noticed when the Red River tension starts building early.
For Oklahoma, it was another reminder that Mateer understands the temperature of this rivalry and how much the next meeting matters. The Sooners are expecting him to be front and center when Texas comes around on October 10, and after a season in which the stakes around that game only grew, every public move like this adds another layer to what could become a defining stretch for Mateer and Brent Venables. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Just Made This Oregon Recruiting Battle Feel Very Different
Jordan Hicks recruitment is starting to take shape as one of the more interesting West Coast battles in the Class of 2028, with Oklahoma and Oregon both sitting near the front of the pack for the Mission Viejo High four-star safety. Hicks was recently seen in Oklahoma gear at a tournament, a small but noticeable sign in a race that already has both programs viewed as leading candidates from his top group.
Oregon has leaned on its reputation for developing safeties and its recent California success, while Oklahoma has continued to make inroads with prospects from the state as well. With Hicks carrying a top eight that also includes several national powers, the Sooners and Ducks look positioned to keep trading momentum as this recruitment develops. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Being Overlooked Might Be Exactly What This Team Needed
Oklahoma is heading into the new season in a different kind of spotlight, or lack of one, than it has known in years. Under Brent Venables, the Sooners are still viewed as a strong program, but the national conversation around them has quieted down, and the preseason buzz is nowhere near what it was when Lincoln Riley was running the show.
For a team that spent so long living under a microscope, that shift could work in its favor. Oklahoma is no longer being treated like a default top-five fixture, and it is not drawing the same level of weekly scrutiny, which gives Venables and his players a chance to build without every move becoming a national referendum. If this is indeed his best group yet, the quieter stage may be exactly what helps it show up that way. [Read more 🡒]