With Oklahoma’s 2026 season creeping closer and SEC Media Days just 12 days away, the Sooners’ schedule is starting to come into sharper focus - and the Nov. 21 visit from Texas A&M stands out as one of the biggest dates on the board.
OU will host the Aggies in Norman in the penultimate week of the regular season, with kickoff set for the early window, sometime between 11 a.m. and noon in Week 12. Broadcast details will come later. It’s a reunion of old Big 12 rivals now meeting as SEC opponents, and it comes at a time when both programs are trying to build on College Football Playoff appearances.
The Sooners and Aggies have already played 31 times, with most of that history coming in the Big 12 and the Southwest Conference before that. Oklahoma holds the edge in the series, 19-12, and has been especially tough on Texas A&M at home, going 14-2 against the Aggies in Norman.
Their next meeting will be the first since Jan. 4, 2013, when they squared off in the Cotton Bowl to close out Texas A&M’s first season in the SEC. A lot has changed since then, but the basic setup feels familiar: both teams are coming off playoff trips and both are trying to get back there again this fall.
Texas A&M went 11-2 last season and, like Oklahoma, dropped a first-round playoff game at home to end the year. Even so, it was a strong year for Mike Elko in College Station.
He’s 19-7 over two seasons, and the Aggies enter Year 3 under Elko ranked 10th in ESPN’s SP+ metric with projected top-15 units on both offense and defense. ESPN also lists Texas A&M as returning 65% of its production from last season.
That backdrop made the latest Cover 3 Summer School episode a natural deep dive. Host Bud Elliott was joined by Tony Catalina of Gig ’Em 247 to break down the Aggies, from the mood around the program after its first College Football Playoff appearance to the offense with Marcel Reed back at quarterback and the defense under first-year coordinator Lyle Hemphill.
Catalina also pointed straight at the schedule and the stretch that will shape the season.
"All five of those games (against LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Texas), I don't think it's a stretch to say that will define what this season looks like," Catalina said. "They got to find a way to beat Texas.
They've got Oklahoma in Oklahoma; that's never going to be easy, going to Norman. Every one of those games has a chance to be a trip-up game, especially with the way November has been set up for them the last couple of years, they've got to find a way to get that monkey off their back."
The full episode is available in the story, and Cover 3 Summer School has also taken a close look at Oklahoma and several other Sooners opponents, including Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Ole Miss, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi State and Missouri.
In Other News...
ESPN Just Reinforced Oklahoma's Place Among College Football's True Bluebloods
ESPNs latest jersey-number exercise ended up sounding a lot like an Oklahoma football roll call. In a ranking of the best college players ever to wear each number, the Sooners landed four times at the top, with Baker Mayfield, Caleb Williams, Tommy McDonald and Ricky Dixon each chosen as the standard-bearer for their respective jerseys. It was the kind of list that doubles as a reminder of how often Oklahoma has produced the kind of stars who still define eras.
The deeper cut was almost as telling, because Oklahoma had 12 more former players turn up as first runners-up. Names like Kyler Murray, Adrian Peterson and Lee Roy Selmon only sharpen the point: this is a program with enough history, and enough elite talent, to crowd the conversation at nearly every number. ESPNs breakdown did not just flatter the Sooners, it reinforced the idea that their place in the sports blueblood class still rests on a long line of players who left a mark that is hard to top. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Suddenly Have Real Buzz In Massive Defensive Line Battle
Kellan Hall is already looking like one of the marquee defensive line names in the 2028 class, and Oklahoma has put itself squarely in the mix early. The Christian Academy of Louisville standout has picked up more than 25 offers and has drawn attention from a national group that includes Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Miami and Kentucky, a sign that his recruitment is going to be anything but quiet.
For the Sooners, the appeal is obvious. Hall has been in Norman multiple times, and those visits have helped keep Oklahoma in a strong position as the race develops. He is expected to trim his list with a top 10 in August before laying out his next round of visit dates, which should give the Sooners a better sense of where they stand in a battle that is only just starting to heat up. [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Fans Have Every Reason To Watch Keldrid Ben Right Now
Keldrid Ben has been one of Oklahomas more important recruiting wins since he committed in December, and now the four-star prospect is back in the spotlight for a different reason. With Florida and Oregon still lingering in the picture, the Sooners have had to keep an eye on a recruitment that has stayed active even after his pledge, which is why his next move is drawing so much attention.
Ben is set to make a new announcement about his recruitment, and the setting points to something more celebratory than dramatic. The expectation is that the moment will play out with his local community in Montgomery, Texas, giving Oklahoma fans another reason to watch closely as one of their top commitments steps back into the public eye. [Read more 🡒]