Bowl eligibility was looking like a long shot for Oklahoma not all that long ago. Then Saturday happened.
After the upset of Florida, the Sooners are suddenly one win away from keeping their bowl streak alive for a 28th straight year. The timing isn’t exactly ideal, though.
No. 19 Ole Miss comes to Norman on Saturday, and getting win No. 6 there feels like a tough ask.
Oklahoma’s cleaner path likely comes against Texas A&M at home or on the road at Missouri.
Even so, simply getting to six wins would still land as a letdown for a program that opened the season with CFP hopes. But a bowl game would at least give fans one more chance to watch OU before an eight-month wait for football returns, and it could also offer a glimpse of what 2027 might look like when younger players get their shot.
Some college football experts still aren’t buying Oklahoma’s chances of getting there. Others are already sketching out possible bowl destinations, and a few of them would definitely be worth the watch.
One of the more familiar projections keeps sending the Sooners back to Las Vegas, this time against USC in the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 31. ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura is the one behind that pick, and he has apparently been stuck on this matchup for a while.
It would be a major storyline game because it would pit Oklahoma against former head coach Lincoln Riley and his USC Trojans, who are 7-2 and still in the CFP hunt. Of course, if USC winds up in the Las Vegas Bowl, that means the Trojans missed out on the playoff, and that could drain some of the juice from the matchup. Riley’s future at USC could even be in question by then if the Trojans fall short again.
Bonagura has also projected Oklahoma against Arizona in the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 31. That one would send the Sooners back to Vegas, but without the same headline-grabbing pull.
There’s no Big 12 angle there, either, since Arizona joined the conference after Oklahoma left for the SEC. Brent Venables has already faced Arizona in a bowl setting, too. That came in the Alamo Bowl at the end of his second season in 2023, when Oklahoma finished 10-2 and lost 38-24 in what marked the beginning of the Jackson Arnold and Seth Littrell era.
Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer has a different kind of reunion in mind: Bedlam in the Texas Bowl against Oklahoma State on Thursday, Dec. 31 in Houston.
That idea has surfaced before, and in some ways it would be the only near-term chance for the Sooners and Cowboys to meet on a football field after the rivalry was ended in 2023 when Oklahoma moved to the SEC. Even in a college football landscape where bowl games can feel disposable, a Bedlam rematch would still draw attention.
Still, it’s not hard to see the downside. A Texas Bowl meeting between two depleted rosters could strip some of the meaning from the rivalry.
Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker is projected to be the first QB taken in the 2027 NFL Draft, so there’s no reason to expect him to play. The Sooners would also be without some defensive stars for the same reason.
Neither Texas Bowl scenario is exactly the kind of finish Sooner Nation wants. And in both cases, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma are still in the hunt for the Big 12 Championship Game, which makes a Texas Bowl trip fall well short of what either side is aiming for.
In Other News...
Oklahomas New SEC Schedule Leaves One Rivalry Choice Open To Debate
The SECs move to a nine-game conference schedule has already changed the way Oklahoma has to think about the calendar, trimming nonconference flexibility and making every permanent opponent matter a little more. From 2026 through 2029, the league will have each team visit and host every other school once, while still preserving three annual rivals, and for the Sooners that list now includes Texas, Missouri and Ole Miss.
The first two choices make obvious sense in the context of the league and the programs history, but the third has sparked plenty of curiosity because Ole Miss is a newly designated rival despite no prior history between the schools. It is the kind of scheduling wrinkle that can shape the feel of a conference slate for years, and it leaves one open question hanging over Oklahomas SEC future: whether this is the rivalry setup that best fits the Sooners, or just the one the league settled on for now. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Just Got A Troubling Trell Harris Update
Trell Harris recovery has become one of the more sobering storylines around Oklahomas season. The wide receiver has been dealing with a lacerated internal organ suffered in the game against Michigan, and Brent Venables said Harris also had a post-surgery infection that required antibiotics. Even so, the coach said Harris remains in good spirits as he continues the long road back.
Harris is expected to return to Norman by the end of next week, which at least gives the Sooners a clearer timeline for the next phase of his recovery. The bigger reality, though, is that a return to play this season is unlikely, leaving Oklahoma to keep waiting on one of its more difficult injury situations to fully resolve. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Venables Just Highlighted A New Reason For Oklahoma Offensive Hope
In Jason Wittens first game as Oklahomas interim offensive coordinator, the Sooners found a little more balance in a 23-7 win over Florida, and that was part of what stood out to Brent Venables afterward. Receivers Jacob Jordan and Parker Livingstone both had meaningful roles in the offense, with Jordan finishing with the second-most receiving yards on the team at 36 and Livingstone adding 26 yards on three catches.
Venables pointed to the deliberate effort to get more players involved, a small but important sign for an offense that has been searching for rhythm. The production against Florida did not come from one isolated source, and that kind of distribution gave Oklahoma a cleaner sense of momentum heading into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]