Halfway through Oklahoma’s 2026 season, the picture is pretty clear: some Sooners have outplayed every preseason guess, while others have come up well short. At 3-3, the offense has dragged expectations even lower, but the defense has still been a strength, and a few players have become major reasons why.
Three names have stood out above the rest on the overachieving side.
Adepoju “PJ” Adebawore finally looks like the player Oklahoma hoped it was getting after three underwhelming seasons following his arrival as a consensus five-star recruit. He hasn’t turned himself into the first-round type of edge rusher that hype once promised, but he has taken over the starting job opposite Taylor Wein.
Through his first six starts, Adebawore has been near the top of OU’s defensive production chart. Before freshman Jake Kreul exploded against Kentucky, Adebawore led the Sooners with 2.5 sacks.
He’s also added 17 tackles and three TFLs.
Noah Best has gone from basically no expectations to being one of the most dependable players on the roster. A three-star recruit from the 2026 class who arrived on campus this spring, Best impressed enough in fall camp to earn the Week 1 center job after early injuries, making him the first freshman center to start an OU season opener since J.R.
Conrad in 1992. He has stayed in the starting lineup ever since, moving to guard, and with the Sooners’ offensive line losing bodies, his spot looks safe.
Halfway through the year, Best and E'Marion Harris are the only offensive linemen who have stayed healthy and started every game.
Then there’s sophomore safety Omarion Robinson, who has outperformed even the coaching staff’s expectations. With Michael Boganowski sidelined by injury, Robinson grabbed the starting job over the last four games and hasn’t let it go.
He has 25 tackles, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry, and he picked off his first career pass against Georgia. Some of his most valuable work won’t show up in the box score, but it has still made the defense better.
The transfer wide receiver additions were supposed to give Oklahoma a boost, but only one has lived up to that billing. Trell Harris was on track before a serious injury ended that run, while Parker Livingstone has been a letdown when healthy.
In five games, Livingstone has just six catches for 51 yards. He was shut out against his old team in the Red River Rivalry and then missed the Sooners’ most recent game against Kentucky.
With Livingstone out, sophomore Manny Choice stepped in and led the team with 98 receiving yards on five catches. Even before the season started, the expectation was that Livingstone would be at least one of John Mateer’s top three targets, but that hasn’t happened, and it may not happen much the rest of the way.
Xavier Robinson also belongs in the underachieving group, even with injury keeping him out of the last two games. He had already lost ground before that.
Robinson was supposed to lead the backfield after a solid 2025 sophomore season, but Lloyd Avant passed him before the year even began. Since then, Robinson has slid even further down the depth chart.
Once he returns, he could be no better than RB4 after averaging 3.8 yards per carry.
And then there’s Mateer, who was always going to land here. He also fell short last season as the No. 1 quarterback in the transfer portal, though a surgically repaired thumb on his throwing hand explained plenty of that.
This year, healthy, he’s still not delivering. Turnovers have defined his 2026 season, and they have already cost Oklahoma games, including last week against Kentucky.
The Sooners own the worst turnover margin among all Power 4 teams, and of their 14 turnovers, Mateer has been responsible for nine - seven interceptions and two lost fumbles.
In Other News...
Oklahomas Next QB Storyline Is Starting To Feel More Urgent
With seven games left in the season, Oklahomas quarterback picture is settled for now, but the long-term conversation is already getting louder. Head coach Ben Arbuckle said John Mateer remains the starter, a decision that reflects where the Sooners are right now as they try to keep the season moving in the right direction. Behind him, Whit Newbauer and Bowe Bentley are still being evaluated, and Bentley in particular continues to draw attention as a name with real promise for the future.
Arbuckles comments made clear that the staff is balancing two timelines at once. Mateer is still the option that gives Oklahoma the best chance to win today, while Bentleys development is being handled with an eye toward what comes next. For a program always under the microscope at quarterback, that leaves the Sooners in a familiar spot, with the present settled enough and the future still taking shape behind it. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma May Finally Have The Backfield Spark It Desperately Needed
Tory Blaylocks role in Oklahomas offense has been easier to talk about than to see this season, with the sophomore running back spending much of 2026 working back from an early injury. But in the recent game against Kentucky, he finally looked closer to the player the Sooners have been waiting on, handling a season-high seven carries and giving a ground game that has been searching for a rhythm a little more life.
For Oklahoma, the timing matters. The run game has been bogged down by injuries along the offensive line, leaving the Sooners short on consistency and too often asking the passing game to carry the burden. Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has been encouraged by Blaylocks return to form, and if that progress holds, it could give Oklahoma a much-needed spark in an area that has been difficult to solve. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahomas Bowl Streak Suddenly Looks Far Less Safe
Oklahomas season has reached the kind of point where the conversation has shifted from playoff dreams to simple survival. After the Sooners dropped to 3-3 with their third loss, the attention around the program turned quickly to whether they can even extend a postseason streak that has become part of the schools standard.
The answer is far from settled, and that is what makes the coming weeks matter so much. Some analysts still see Oklahoma landing in a bowl game, with projections ranging from the Las Vegas Bowl to the Liberty Bowl, while others have them missing out entirely as the SEC and Big Ten bowl picture starts to take shape around them. The selection process brings its own complications, including conference tie-ins and possible matchups with old rivals, leaving the Sooners in a precarious spot with little margin left to work with. [Read more 🡒]