Brent Venables explains how Oklahoma benefits from early challenges on 2026 schedule
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Brent Venables and Oklahoma are facing a make-or-break season as the program looks to establish its foothold among the SEC’s elite.
And for either better or worse, the Sooner faithful will have an answer to how great this 2026 squad will be by the time mid-October rolls around.
With home dates against UTEP and New Mexico sprinkled in, Oklahoma will pay visits to Ann Arbor and Athens while also clashing with Texas within its first 5 games of the regular season.
During his SEC Media Day appearance on Monday, Venables was asked about the daunting opening slate his team is facing heading into the early weeks of the campaign.
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“Every game is big. You have to be ready every week,” Venables said. “In the offseason, (that schedule) worked to our benefit.”
The Sooners’ head coach added that the unique weight of every college football game means that it’s tough to ever catch someone napping, but he’s choosing to look at this slate through a positive lens.
“You only get 12 opportunities,” Brent Venables said. “You’re not gonna sneak up on anybody in Ann Arbor or going to Athens–Georgia has been the standard in our sport for a while in my eyes–and then Texas in Dallas is always a great atmosphere. Our guys are looking forward to the challenge.”
Parker is currently the sports editor for Gulf Coast Media in Foley, Alabama. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
