2026 Missouri Football Opponent DEEP DIVE: Oklahoma Sooners

Welcome back to Rock M Nation’s annual opponent preview series of the upcoming season. Each week we will break down one opponent from the schedule in chronological order. Given that rosters are ever fluid – and this is done by a hobbyist rather than a pro – there could be some errors in history and current roster makeup. All mistakes are done on purpose and with ill intent because Nate Edwards doesn’t like you or your team.

Catch up on previous 2026 opponent previews!

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Advertisement

kansas

Troy

Mississippi State

Florida

Texas A&M

Ole Miss

Arkansas

Texas

Georgia

Kentucky

Last year I was very critical of Oklahoma’s long-term viability, given that head coach Brent Venables was taking over as defensive coordinator, they had lost a lot of production, and their portal strategy focused on calling up FCS/G5 guys.

Then they went out and won 10 games and made an appearance in the Playoff. Why do I write these things again?

The offense was far from their ceiling thanks to injuries but the defense was everything you could wish for and more.

Essentially, Oklahoma was Missouri with a better defense, slightly worse offense, and an inverse record in one-score games.

Advertisement

Shows you how close the margins can be in today’s college football, huh?

Here’s what Oklahoma did last year:

Oklahoma finishing the year ranked 14th in SP+ feels right. That defense was incredible, and deservedly ranked 4th in the nation. The offense fell apart after the John Mateer injury and 51st is propped up by the tremendous numbers at the beginning of the year.

The Sooners played like total crap three times: 6% post-game win expectancy in a lopsided loss to Texas, 5% in a one-score win against Alabama, and then 15% in the Playoff rematch loss against the Tide. A 48% PGWE in a loss against Ole Miss and 70% in a win against Tennessee were the only outliers of elite play.

Advertisement

But, to frame this in a simpler manner, Oklahoma played in five one-score games and went 4-1 in those games. The Sooner’s ranked 15th in Resume SP+ and 19th in Strength of Schedule SP+ so this wasn’t some underperforming unit that lucked into 10 wins. But they were also very lucky to go 4-1 in those circumstances and close-games luck does not always last forever (just ask a Mizzou fan!).

Coaching Staff

Brent Venables – 5th Year – 32-20 (18-16)

From my last year preview:

This is a big year, then! It certainly seems like it, anyway, as Venables and friends pulled a lot of levers that are on-or-around the “panic zone” labeled zones:

Fire your offensive coordinator and hire a young, system-exclusive, smaller-school OC? Check.

Bring in a transfer quarterback who is familiar with said system? Check.

Take over play calling responsibilities for the side of the ball the head coach knows best? Check.

Hire a bunch of dudes with coordinator experience to be position coaches? Check.

For Venables’ sake I hope it works out. But until I see the final product – specifically the offense – on the field, I’m having a hard time thinking that the Sooners are going to improve all that much given the gauntlet of a schedule that they have.

Without a doubt these changes worked, but not as drastically as Oklahoma needed. The offense did improve by nearly 25 spots but injuries held back a further jump. The defense was killer, the offensive line was slightly improved but struggled on the tackles, and the offense as a whole wasn’t very good at anything in particular.

Advertisement

But Venables seemingly broke through and now vibes are better, even with the Playoff loss to Alabama. There’s a lot of good will that Sooner Nation was dying to give Venables and he has seemingly earned it, but there is certainly a push to capitalize on OC Ben Arbuckle and QB John Mateer this year before they both (possibly) leave at the conclusion of the season.

Assistant Staff

The staff mostly stayed intact, with Deland McCullough (running backs), Jason Witten (tight ends), and LaMar Morgan (cornerbacks) being the newest additions. Jason Witten, in particular is an interesting addition; after a Hall of Fame-worthy 17-year career with the Dallas Cowboys (and that one year with the Raiders), Witten had been coaching high school ball since 2021. He doesn’t have any college experience but he certainly knows how to play tight end and I’m interested to see how he does as a position coach.

Advertisement

Roster Movement

Oklahoma watched 27 players depart the ’25 roster via portal, and none of them were guys who had become higher valued than they were as high school prospects. There are plenty who ended up on other power rosters but very few of these guys were contributing in significant ways last year.

The Sooner turned around and brought in 16 additions through the portal, most of whom had risen in valuation from their high school years. There are four players who were unranked out of high school who now carried a 3-star marking from the open market: Western Kentucky center Caleb Nitta, UTSA edge rusher Keeny Ozowalu, Mississippi Valley State corner Prince Ijioma, and the exquisitely named Colorado State tight end Rocky Beers. There’s also four 4-star portal players that signed with Oklahoma, including Virginia receiver Trell Harris, Tennessee tight end Jack Van Dorselaer, Arkansas tackle E’Marion Harris, and rivalry betrayer Parker Livingstone from Texas. Go to jail, Parker, go directly to jail.

The Sooners also added a 25-man high school recruiting class, ranking 15th in the nation and 8th in the SEC. Bowe Bentley is an enticing addition at quarterback, as are blue chippers Jake Kreul (defensive end) and running back Jonathan Hatton, Jr.

Advertisement

Offense

I want to stress: adding Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer from Washington State was a great decision and the Oklahoma offense did improve, rising from 75th in 2024 to 51st in 2025.

But there was a lot of “what could have been”.

Mateer broke the thumb on his throwing hand in Week 4 against Auburn. The injury, which occurred in the 1st quarter, severely limited his ability to effectively throw the ball, and even getting the surgery during the Sooner Bye Week had a lot of questions about his ability to get back to 100% in season.

But modern medicine is crazy impressive and Mateer returned to close out the season. He wasn’t as effective as he previously was but the staff believed it was better than trotting out Michael Hawkins or Whitt Newbauer, so Mateer was the guy.

Advertisement

The Sooner offense wasn’t very good, however. 113th in rushing, 67th in passing, 92nd in standard downs, 97th in passing downs. They weren’t efficient (96th) nor explosive (82nd) and struggled with finishing drives with points (82nd in points per scoring opportunity). And, as an extra blemish on this demarcation sundae, the Sooners also ranked 85th in turnover margin.

Remember: that was an improvement.

The question, then: what does a full year of a healthy John Mateer look like? And does it matter if Oklahoma still can’t run the ball?

Quarterback

Fairly stark difference, huh? Granted, the first four games featured the 15th, 16th, and 109th-ranked defenses plus an FCS, while the last 8 were SEC teams, but still. Mateer rushing – one of the key aspects of his success at Washington State – also fell off of a cliff at Oklahoma, finishing with only 23 fewer sack-adjusted attempts but 457 fewer yards and 7 fewer touchdowns.

Advertisement

Was that the injury? Was it SEC adjustment? Whatever it was, Oklahoma is hoping a second go around will be able to unlock all the Mateer potential they were hoping for when he originially portalled in.

Running Backs

This is the wildest aspect about Oklahoma’s 2026 offense.

The 2025 running back room featured Tory Blaylock, Xavier Robinson, Jadyn Ott, and Jovantae Barnes, none of whome performed well.

Oklaohma lost Ott and Barnes, and replaced them with one guy – Colorado State transfer Lloyd Avant – who would have ranked third in carries and yards on last year’s Oklahoma team.

Lose two guys who stunk, replace it with one guy who was ok, and do nothing else. That’s the plan?

Advertisement

Blaylock wasn’t impressive in any capacity and neither was Mateer, while Avant was the second-best back on a bad Colorado State squad and was good at yards after contact, but not much else.

I just don’t get the logic here. Either they had no worries about Mateer carrying the offense or they couldn’t afford any impact transfer running backs.

In either case, this is the position group that needed to improve the most and they didn’t make any moves that seemed to address it. Best of luck to them, I guess.

Receivers

Former Arkansas receiver Isaiah Sategna was by far Oklahoma’s best receiver, and his return for another year is absolutely a positive. The Sooner do lose #2 weapons Deion Burks but replace him with his ACC clone, Virginia transfer Trell Harris. Despite breaking everything holy about a true blue rivalry, snatching Parker Livingstone from under Texas’ nose adds a legitimate third option that can line up either as the Z or slot receiver, and importing three experienced tight ends was a smart choice as well. This is the position group that got the biggest infusion of talent, which tells me that Venables and Arbuckle are leaning towards the “throw to win” version of offensive football, especially with a healthy John Mateer.

Advertisement

Offensive Line

Last year’s interior offensive line was much more dependable than the tackles, so Oklahoma went out and grabbed three intriguing tackle transfers to shore up their pass blocking. Center Jake Maikkula returns but the guards do not, and Oklahoma seemed content to not import any interior lineman outside of career-center/possible guard Caleb Nitta. Bill Bedenbaugh’s reputation as an offensive line guru has taken several hits over the years but it’s not like the guy forgot how to craft high level lines. There’s lots of talent here and, even if his fastball has lost some speed, he will probably field a good o-line this year. Whether “good” will be enough is yet to be determined.

Advertisement

Defense

Oklahoma’s 4th-ranked defense was incredible last year. I could write about it but I feel the more effective method is to just list their rankings and the percentages associated with it and have you gape in awe:

1st in success rate (30.2%)

2nd in 3-and-out percentage (42.5%)

2nd in percentage of plays gaining <=0 yards (41.6%)

1st in points per scoring opportunity allowed (3.14)

7th in redzone touchdown rate (41.9%)

1st in rushing success rate (27.7%)

8th in passing success rate (33.4%)

2nd in standard downs success rate (36.4%)

11th in passing downs success rate (23.8%)

I was skeptical of Brent Venables, SEC head coach, becoming his own defensive coordinator and, boy, do I look like an idiot for that take. Oklahoma’s defense resembled the feared Sooner defenses of the mid-aughts or Clemson defenses of the 2010s and that’s exactly why you hire Brent Venables. Their pass rush was 2nd in the nation and that paired with the 3rd-best havoc rate to put any offense into the seventh circle of hell.

Advertisement

The one weakness? Explosive plays. Offenses could find them and those plays went a very long way. But over an entire season the Oklahoma defense decided that was a fine gamble to allow and it mostly worked. Adding impact transfers at every level only heightens the potential of this unit which is an absolute bummer for anyone having to play the Sooners. The defense is the heart and soul of this team and if it can be paired with even a decent offense this year they will be unstoppable.

Oh, and the Sooner defense returns almost everybody of note, including eligibility-litigation star Owen Heinecke.

So what does it all mean?

Oklahoma made a surprise run at the Playoff and, disapointing home loss aside, are primed to make another and have a lot of positive vibes in their corner. There are tricking non-con games against a Michigan under new management and G5 darling New Mexico, but the real boon for Oklahoma – outside of it’s high returning production – is the SEC schedule..

Advertisement

After getting hazed by the SEC scheduling ops in the first two years, Oklahoma’s 2026 schedule is much more manageable. Yes, they open with SEC title contender Georgia. And, yes, they have the annual Red River Shootout against the other SEC title contender in Texas. But playing rebuilding Kentucky and Florida? South Carolina, Ole Miss, and A&M at home? Road games against Mississippi State and Missouri? Brother, that’s a cakewalk compared to what other teams are going through.

For Missouri, the Tigers got a rare win against the Sooner in dramatic fashion in 2024 and then fizzled in Beau Pribula’s rushed return in 2025. Oklahoma could potentially have a lot to play for when they make their return trip to Columbia, but maybe Missouri is hitting its stride as well? This could either be a under-the-radar marquee matchup if Mizzou is able to improve off of last year’s campaign. No doubt Oklahoma will be much improved and that could lead to a banger of a senior night in CoMo.