Oklahoma’s season has hit the point where the conversation is no longer about the College Football Playoff. After falling to 4-4, the Sooners still have four games left, and the next one sends them to No. 25 Florida on Saturday night.
That trip brings Oklahoma to Gainesville for the first time ever, and the setting should be as loud as it gets: The Swamp, under the lights, in a night game. But the matchup has already been eclipsed by the changes in Norman, where head coach Brent Venables fired offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Monday and elevated tight ends coach Jason Witten to handle the play-calling.
That move alone makes this a game worth watching, no matter the opponent. Sooner fans are going to get their first real look at what the offense looks like with Arbuckle out and Witten running it. There’s also the possibility that Whitt Newbauer or Bowe Bentley could finally see meaningful snaps at quarterback if John Mateer is benched, though that remains TBD.
Matt Schumacker will handle play-by-play, with Aaron Murray as analyst and Taylor Davis reporting from the sideline.
The weather should cooperate for the full Florida experience. Gainesville is expected to be sunny and 79 degrees on Saturday, with no rain in the forecast.
This will be only the third meeting between Oklahoma and Florida, and it’s the first time the teams will play in the regular season or on a campus. Florida won the first matchup in the 2009 BCS National Championship Game, while Oklahoma got the split with a win in the Cotton Bowl in 2020.
In Other News...
Oklahoma Defense Suddenly Has A Brent Venables Problem
Oklahomas defense took a jarring step backward in the loss to South Carolina, surrendering 521 total yards in a game Brent Venables called uncharacteristically poor. The Sooners were exposed in the basics, most notably in space, where missed tackles piled up and the unit never found the kind of edge it usually tries to bring under Venables.
The tackling issues were especially hard to ignore because they cut across the entire defense, with 25 misses showing up on the film and linebacker Kip Lewis among the players hit hardest by the grading. Even with the offense getting a lift from Ivan Carreons career-high 88 yards and two touchdowns, the defensive breakdowns left Oklahoma with a much bigger concern to sort through moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
OU's Record Looks Different Once You See What They've Faced
The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2026 offered a reminder that Oklahomas record has to be viewed through the lens of who the Sooners have been playing. A 4-4 start looks ordinary on paper, but the schedule has been anything but, with seven ranked opponents on the slate and several of the sports heavyweights already on the resume.
Georgia, Texas and Ole Miss are part of the list of top-25 teams Oklahoma has already faced, which helps explain why this season has been so difficult to read from the standings alone. The Sooners came in with preseason expectations of being much better positioned, but with the CFP picture already looking remote, the bigger question now is whether they can steady themselves enough to finish with a winning record against what remains. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahomas New Play-Caller Faces An Immediate Test Fans Will Notice
Jason Wittens first game as Oklahomas play-caller came with plenty of attention and not much margin for error. After the Sooners fired Seth Littrell and turned the offense over to Witten, the new setup was immediately put under the spotlight in a 26-14 loss to Ole Miss, a game that gave fans an early look at how the unit might function under a different voice.
The issues were familiar ones for Oklahoma, from quarterback John Mateer having to do too much on the ground to the offensive line struggling to create a cleaner picture for the offense. Brent Venables has kept the focus on winning and on getting the group to play better under the new coordinator, but the first test made clear this is still a work in progress, and the next few weeks will say a lot about how quickly the Sooners can settle in. [Read more 🡒]