David Pollack identifies Oklahoma game as biggest on Michigan’s schedule

New Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham won’t waste anytime testing his team next season. The Wolverines will square off against Oklahoma in Week 2 of the 2026 campaign. In a recent episode of the See Ball Get Ball podcast, college football expert David Pollack claimed Oklahoma will be the most important opponent on Michigan’s schedule.

“If you’re going to start comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges, if you get that feather in your cap of an out-of-conference team, Oklahoma is going to be good. They’re gonna be good,” Pollack said. “They were in the playoff, and they’re going to be in contention again.

“They’re gonna they’re not going anywhere. … Getting them at home is even better. You get that one, when you start comparing to other teams that you’re going to be going against and you say you got that feather in the cap, that’s a really good thing for Go Blue.”

Last season, Oklahoma earned its first bid to the College Football Playoff under head coach Brent Venables. The Sooners ultimately suffered a first-round loss to Alabama.

Nonetheless, OU will be a national title contender again next season, with an impressive segment of its talent returning. Most notably, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is running it back with the Sooners.

Mateer was a Heisman Trophy candidate early last season, but fell behind in the race after suffering a thumb injury that required surgery. With a full offseason to recover, Mateer should be at full-strength again by Michigan’s season-opener.

Alas, Oklahoma isn’t the only team that returned several key pieces this offseason. Despite undergoing massive staff turnover, including at head coach, Michigan retained quarterback Bryce Underwood.

As a true freshman last season, Underwood started in all 13 of Michigan’s games. He completed 60.3% of his pass attempts for 2,428 yards and 11 touchdowns, compared to nine interceptions. He also recorded 392 yards and six scores in the ground game.

When Michigan and Oklahoma squared off in 2025, Underwood’s inexperience showed. He completed just 9-of-his-24 (37.5%) pass attempts for 142 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown or an interception.

Underwood, along with his fellow returning Wolverines, will be hungry to exact revenge on the Sooners next season. The two powerhouse programs will face off on Sept. 12, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.