The Oklahoma Sooners are staring at a 2026 schedule that does not offer much breathing room. The first half of the year looks especially rough, with a road trip to Michigan, a first-ever visit to Georgia, and the Red River Showdown against Texas all landing before the season gets too deep. UTEP and New Mexico are in the mix early, but those games do not change the basic reality: what happens in those opening weeks will go a long way toward shaping Oklahoma’s season.
For a college football fan, it is a loaded slate. For the Sooners, it is a stretch that could define where they land when everything is said and done. Here is how the matchups stack up from easiest to toughest.
UTEP is the softest spot on the schedule, at least on paper. The Miners have had only two winning seasons since 2006 and went 2-10 in 2025. They did manage to hold Texas to 27 points in Week 3, but there is not much returning production coming back, with UTEP ranked 129th in offensive returning production and 99th on defense.
New Mexico is next, and this is not the same type of walkover. The Lobos check in at No. 21 nationally in ESPN’s returning production for 2026, and they come in off a 9-4 season in Year 1 under Jason Eck. Their 20-17 loss to Minnesota in the Rate Bowl capped the program’s first winning season since 2016, and Oklahoma will be dealing with a veteran group in Week 3.
Kentucky lands in the middle of the pack. There is plenty of buzz around the Wildcats under first-year coach Will Stein, but that noise is likely to get swallowed up by the home crowd in Norman. By the time Oklahoma hosts Kentucky, the Sooners will have already been through Georgia and Texas, and it will be their first game in front of their own fans in nearly a month.
Mississippi State is another game that should not be dismissed. The Bulldogs pushed Texas hard last year, and Starkville can be a difficult place to play.
Jeff Lebby has them moving in a competitive direction, with enough skill talent to make things uncomfortable for good defenses. Still, compared with the rest of Oklahoma’s schedule, this one sits lower on the danger scale.
South Carolina comes in ahead of that group, even though Oklahoma beat the Gamecocks on the road last season. The matchup is in Norman and closes out October on Halloween, but the Sooners will need to handle it before a November stretch that starts in Florida and also includes Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri.
Missouri is one of the more interesting teams on the slate. Nobody is projecting the Tigers to win the SEC, but the offense should be dangerous.
Austin Simmons has big upside, the run game should be solid again, and even if Ahmad Hardy is not ready to open the season, there is still enough there to matter. Oklahoma already knows how thin the margin can be; the Sooners had the game in Columbia in 2024 before literally fumbling it away late.
Florida is a tougher assignment because of the trip itself. Jon Sumrall is viewed as one of the best coaches in college football after his run at Tulane, and Florida is expected to climb back toward prominence. Whether that happens by 2026 is another question, but going to Gainesville makes this a real test.
Texas A&M is next, and the Aggies bring real heft. They went 11-1 in 2025, reached the College Football Playoff, and have recruited at a level most programs can only chase.
Even so, there is some uncertainty around where things stand. Last year, Texas A&M played only five Power Four opponents with winning records, went 3-2 in those games, and dropped its final two.
Michigan checks in just behind the top tier because Ann Arbor is no place to ease into a season. It is Week 2, and the crowd will still believe anything can happen. Bryce Underwood and company will surely want a cleaner showing than the one they turned in last year against Brent Venables’ defense.
Ole Miss is a heavyweight. The Rebels were a couple of plays from the national championship game and bring back the best quarterback in college football, Trinidad Chambliss.
Pete Golding also knows how to coach up a defense. Oklahoma is 0-2 all-time against Ole Miss in a series that began in 2024, and the Sooners will be hunting for that first win.
Texas sits just above that because the Red River Showdown always lives in its own universe. The Longhorns were picked second in the SEC and are viewed as a national title contender, with one of the most talented rosters in the country.
Oklahoma has plenty of talent too, which only adds to the uncertainty. That said, anything can happen in this game, and the Sooners will be hoping to avoid any quarterback drama before kickoff.
And at the top is Georgia. Since 2017, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs have lost only two games in Athens, and one of them came last season when Alabama won there.
Before that, the last defeat in Athens was in 2019. Oklahoma has already shown it can compete in hostile SEC road environments, but it will need another strong showing to knock off the defending SEC champions.
Do it for the 2019 Sooners.
In Other News...
Oklahoma Just Added A 2028 Opponent Amid More Schedule Chaos
Oklahomas 2028 non-conference slate is already taking shape, and it now includes a game against Missouri State alongside home dates with Temple and Colorado State and a road trip to Houston. The Sooners have been steadily filling out future schedules, and the list of opponents already stretches well beyond that season, with Utah State, San Diego State, SMU, Nebraska and Clemson all appearing on the calendar through 2036.
Still, the full picture for 2028 is not settled. Financial considerations could force Oklahoma to trim the schedule, with Temple or Colorado State potentially the game that gets dropped, so the Sooners are not yet locked into all four non-conference matchups. It is another reminder that even with the long-range planning in place, the business side of scheduling can still reshape what the Sooners ultimately play. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Could Be Sitting On A Jersey Patch Game Changer
Oklahomas next move in the revenue game could be as visible as it is lucrative. Athletic director Roger Denny confirmed the school is exploring a sponsored jersey patch, a step that would put the Sooners in the same growing lane as recent high-profile deals at Ohio State and Notre Dame. With Oklahomas reach across multiple sports and a national profile that still carries plenty of brand value, the possibility has become more than just a theoretical exercise.
Denny, though, is making clear that the university does not want to force the issue just to be first. The Sooners are taking a deliberate approach and weighing the long-term fit of any corporate partnership, which means the patch may be coming, but not on a hurried timeline. For a program that understands both the business and the optics of these decisions, the challenge is finding the deal that feels worthwhile enough to wear every time the jerseys take the field. [Read more 🡒]
OU Just Got A Massive Special Teams Edge For 2026
Oklahomas special teams picture for 2026 is starting to look unusually stable, and that matters on a roster that has been leaning on consistency wherever it can find it. Redshirt senior Tate Sandell is back after winning the Lou Groza Award and setting program records, choosing another year in Norman instead of heading to the NFL Draft, while punter Grayson Miller returns after earning all-SEC first-team honors. With Isaiah Sategna also back as the punt returner, the Sooners enter the offseason with rare continuity in the kicking game.
There is still a little sorting out left, though, especially in the punting competition. Miller is set to battle Jacob Ulrich for the starting job as Ulrich works back from a hamstring injury, and Oklahoma has also added running back Lloyd Avant as a possible kickoff-return option. For a team trying to sharpen every edge before 2026, special teams may end up being one of the easiest places to gain it. [Read more 🡒]