Quick takeaways from the Sooners' 2026 slate
Oklahoma is rightly focused on next week’s College Football Playoff game against Alabama (7 p.m. next Friday, ABC).
However, they now know their full 2026 schedule. The SEC unveiled the full schedules next season for each team on Thursday, and there’s plenty of notable things to analyze about the Sooners’ slate.
Here’s a few quick takeaways from the Sooners’ 2026 schedule:
The Schedule
- Sept. 5: UTEP
- Sept. 12: at Michigan
- Sept. 19: New Mexico
- Sept. 26: at Georgia
- Oct. 3: BYE
- Oct. 10: Texas (neutral)
- Oct. 17: Kentucky
- Oct. 24: at Mississippi State
- Oct. 31: South Carolina
- Nov. 7: at Florida
- Nov. 14: at Ole Miss
- Nov. 21: Texas A&M
- Nov. 28: at Missouri
No easing into the conference slate
The Sooners’ first SEC contest of the season? At Georgia, in Athens.
Welcome to the SEC.
The Bulldogs (11-1) are in the College Football Playoff after winning the SEC Championship with a blowout win over Alabama. It’ll be the Sooners’ first trip to Athens in program history.
It’ll also be a departure from how the Sooners opened SEC play the last two years. In 2024, the Sooners hosted Tennessee. This season, they hosted Auburn, which finished the year 5-7. But next year, they’ll head to Georgia in a game that could be the most difficult of the season.
October should be managable
Emphasis on should.
After a couple of tough games in September, October should be an easier month in conference play — relatively, of course.
The Sooners open the month with their lone bye of the season before heading to Dallas for the annual Red River Rivalry. The Texas game will be a tough test, but from there the Sooners close the month with home games against Kentucky and South Carolina, with a road trip to Mississippi State sandwiched in between.
Kentucky and Mississippi State finished this season with 5-7 overall records. Kentucky earned just two wins in conference play, while Mississippi State and South Carolina both notched just one. It was a particularly disappointing season for South Carolina, who finished 9-3 in 2024.
Things can change quickly in the transfer portal. But as now, the Sooners should feel pretty confident they can come out of October relatively unscathed.
November gets a lot tougher
While October may be manageable, there will be a noticeable step up in November.
The Sooners open the month with a road trip to Florida before hosting Ole Miss for the second consecutive year. While the Gators will be coming off a 4-8 season, The Swamp has always been a difficult place to play. Even this season, they beat Texas at home and nearly knocked off Georgia.
The Sooners will be looking to beat Ole Miss after losing in Oxford in 2024 before losing at home back in October.
From there, the Sooners will host Texas A&M in Norman for the first time since 2011. That should be an electric atmosphere at Owen Field — the Sooners and the Aggies’ ties date back to the Big 12 days, and the Aggies are in this year’s College Football Playoff field.
However, that’s the only home game in November. The Sooners end the regular season with a trip to Missouri, where they lost in 2024.
It’s going to be a grind…again
On the one hand, the Sooners can feel OK about their schedule. It doesn’t include a few notable teams like Alabama and Tennessee, and the Sooners will finally get to play some of the teams at the bottom of the SEC standings.
But that’s going to be offset by a couple of things. For one, it’ll be the first year of a nine-game conference schedule. That alone makes it a grind, especially considering the Sooners close the year with three road games out of four.
But next year will also bring back the one bye week. The Sooners got two this season. In addition, the Sooners will play two tough road games at Michigan and at Georgia before they hit their bye week. After the bye, the Sooners will play eight consecutive games.
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