Brent Venables didn’t need much time Monday morning in Tampa to circle one of the most intriguing dates on Oklahoma’s 2026 calendar.
The Sooners will host Texas A&M on Nov. 21 in a game whose kickoff time and TV designation still have to be announced, and it comes with plenty more than nostalgia attached. In the SEC race, this one could wind up mattering in a big way - possibly helping sort out who reaches the SEC Championship Game and who stays in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot.
It’s also a reunion of two programs that both made the Playoff last season, even if the stay was brief. Oklahoma and Mike Elko’s Aggies were both bounced in the opening round, and now they’ll meet in Norman for the first time since 2012, when Texas A&M was in its first year in the SEC. Oklahoma didn’t join the league until 2024, and the rivalry that stretches back to 1903 will finally get another chapter in 2026, with the Sooners leading the all-time series 19-12.
Venables was clearly energized by the matchup when he spoke with reporters at SEC Media Days.
“It’s exciting. Another one of the long teams that talks about the depth of the SEC,” Venables said.
“Mike (Elko) and his staff have done a wonderful job at building the roster, taking over a really good roster when Jimbo (Fisher) left, continued that tradition of building in the trenches. If they’ve done something really well, they’ve done that well.
Going to be a great, great challenge. Going to be in Norman, thankfully for us.
One of many good teams that, man, we have to show up with our ‘A’ game and have a chance to compete.”
Texas A&M won the most recent meeting, taking the last one 14 years ago, so Oklahoma will have a chance to settle that score at home in November.
And with Venables and Elko both expected to be in the mix with the SEC’s other heavyweights in 2026, the Sooners-Aggies showdown is shaping up as one of the league’s most consequential late-season games.
In Other News...
Kyle Field Just Became A Question Aggies Never Wanted Asked
Kyle Field has spent more than a century growing from a modest campus venue into one of college footballs defining stages, and Texas A&M has treated its name as part of the place itself. Built in 1905 and expanded through wave after wave of renovations, the stadium has long carried the weight of Aggie tradition, with the name tied to E.J. Kyle and protected as a piece of the programs identity even as the building around it changed.
That history only gets louder when you look at what happened in the last decade, when the 2013 Board of Regents approved a $450 million redevelopment that was finished for the 2015 season and left Kyle Field as the largest stadium in the SEC. It is a venue built to keep growing without losing its sense of self, which is why any conversation about what it should be called lands with extra force around College Station, even if the answer remains more complicated than the question. [Read more 🡒]
Jimbo Fisher Just Reopened An Uncomfortable Texas A&M Conversation
Mike Elko has given Texas A&M a much steadier run since taking over after Jimbo Fishers dismissal, and the numbers have backed that up. In two seasons, Elko has guided the Aggies to a 19-7 record, capped by an 11-2 campaign and a College Football Playoff appearance, a stretch that has helped the program move on from the turbulence that followed Fishers six-year tenure.
Still, Fishers name is back in the conversation after a recent interview with The Athletic, and that alone is enough to stir up old questions in College Station. He is now working as an ACC Network analyst, but his comments have reopened the broader debate about what his next move might look like and whether the college game he left behind would even be the right fit for him if he does try to get back in. [Read more 🡒]
Aggies Fans Are Loving That The SEC Finally Sees Texas
SEC Media Days have a way of sorting out the leagues pecking order before a snap is played, and this year Texas has been soaking up a lot of the glow. Between the buzz around Steve Sarkisians program and the attention flowing toward the Longhorns, the conferences newest heavyweight has become the center of the conversation in a way that has not gone unnoticed in College Station.
For Texas A&M fans, the reaction has been almost as satisfying as any on-field result, because the skepticism theyve long had about Texas is now getting aired out on a much bigger stage. Even with the hype, there are still plenty around the SEC wondering whether the Longhorns have the depth to match the spotlight, especially with the new nine-game schedule looming and the margin for error getting smaller. [Read more 🡒]