With Oklahoma on a bye, Saturday gives Sooners fans a rare chance to breathe and watch the rest of college football without having to deal with OU’s dysfunctional offense. Brent Venables and Co. are off this week, but the break won’t last long - next week brings No. 1 Texas in the Red River Rivalry, and the Longhorns are also idle right now.
It’s not a packed slate, but there are still a few games worth your attention. And if one doesn’t grab you, there’s always the option of earning some goodwill with the family that hasn’t seen you in four straight Saturdays.
The early window offers the biggest stage of the day: No. 7 Alabama at No.
16 Mississippi State at 11 a.m. CT on ABC, available with a fuboTV free trial.
It’s the kind of matchup nobody saw coming before the season, and it gets even more interesting because it’s in Starkville. That gives Mississippi State a real shot to knock off Alabama in a showdown of unbeaten teams.
Former OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has turned the Bulldogs into a CFP contender with one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The engine is quarterback Kamario Taylor, who has become a surprise Heisman Trophy contender and frequently connects deep with Zion Ragins, the former Sooners receiver who transferred from OU over the offseason.
Alabama, meanwhile, has its own young quarterback rising in sophomore Keelon Russell. The Crimson Tide still haven’t beaten anyone of real note, so this is the first true chance to find out what they’re made of. The winner leaves with a much stronger case as a CFP contender.
OU won’t face Alabama this year, but the Sooners do head to Mississippi State on Oct. 24, when Brent Venables will go up against one of his former assistants.
Another game that matters to Sooners fans is No. 8 Florida at No.
25 Missouri. Both teams are still ahead on Oklahoma’s schedule, and both trips are on the road.
Florida just blasted Ole Miss to move into the Top 10 under new head coach Jon Sumrall, while Missouri comes in off a loss to Mississippi State. If the Gators keep rolling, it will only sharpen the sense that they’re legitimate and make OU’s trip to The Swamp look dangerous.
It would also reinforce the idea that Missouri is, once again, overrated.
Later in the day, Washington visits No. 18 USC, and that one has plenty of eyes on Lincoln Riley after last week’s 41-27 home loss to Oregon.
The Ducks beat USC even after losing starting quarterback Dante Moore in the second quarter, and the Trojans still couldn’t get stops. Washington enters unranked at 3-1, but the Huskies were in the Top 25 before a loss to Minnesota and remain a solid team.
If Riley drops back-to-back home games, including one against an unranked opponent, the pressure at USC will get even louder.
In Other News...
Oklahoma's Run Game Desperately Needs What Tory Blaylock Could Bring
Oklahomas ground game has been grinding through a difficult 2026 season, and the Sooners are still looking for a spark to make it more functional. Through the early going, they have been stuck at 99 rushing yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry, with Lloyd Avant taking on the bulk of the work but finding little room to break through consistently.
Tory Blaylock could be the piece that changes the feel of that offense. The sophomore missed time with an injury and has only had limited carries so far, but his past efficiency and speed have stood out enough to make him a real candidate for a bigger role moving forward. If Oklahoma is going to get its run game moving in the right direction, Blaylock looks like the kind of back who could help it happen. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Venables Just Picked Up More Pressure At Oklahoma
Brent Venables is entering the kind of stretch that can change the mood around a program fast. Oklahoma already has two losing seasons in the last four years under Venables, and even with a contract extension through 2031, the early part of the 2026 season has done little to quiet the unease. A 2-2 start and the offenses uneven play have put the Sooners in an uncomfortable spot, where patience is getting tested against expectations.
The path ahead does not offer much relief. Oklahoma still has a brutal schedule in front of it, with multiple ranked opponents left to navigate, and the margin for error is already thin if the Sooners want to get back to bowl eligibility. They need to win at least half of their remaining games, so the next month will say plenty about whether this season becomes a rebound or another frustration point in Venables tenure. [Read more 🡒]
Jayden Jackson Is Giving Oklahoma Exactly What This Defense Needed
Jayden Jackson has been one of the steadying forces for Oklahomas defense early in the 2026 season, giving the Sooners dependable play in the middle while the rest of the unit works through some uneven moments. The junior defensive tackle has piled up 15 total tackles and backed that up with a strong Pro Football Focus defensive grade, the kind of production that helps explain why the front has stayed effective even as the defense around him has had to keep adjusting.
What makes Jacksons start even more valuable is the timing. Oklahoma has been good on that side of the ball, but the missed tackles have been hard to ignore, with 49 of them over the first four games, and that leaves plenty of room for the Sooners to tighten things up. Senior captain Kip Lewis has pointed to Jacksons consistency and leadership as part of that process, and for a defense still chasing cleaner execution, having a player in the interior who keeps showing up the same way every week matters. [Read more 🡒]