Brett McMurphy just reignited Oklahoma CFP dreams

On3's Brett McMurphy has been a longtime college football writer deep in the know, and his way-too-early prediction for next season's College Football Playoff proves McMurphy is still fully clued in.

Many CFP predictions for 2026 have already been released by various national outlets, with most leaving the Oklahoma Sooners out despite returning so many playmakers, but McMurphy waited until all the Transfer Portal dust settled before revealing his on Tuesday. McMurphy projected the Sooners to return to the playoff after going 10-3 and losing to Alabama in the first round at home last season.

Unlike last year, though, McMurphy doesn't expect the Sooners to get another home playoff game as a 5-8 seed, but instead traveling to No. 6 Texas Tech as the No. 11 seed. The winner of that matchup between old Big 12 foes would face No. 3 Ohio State at a neutral site.

Brett McMurphy's way-too-early CFP prediction has Sooners back in title contention

McMurphy's bracket included four squads from the SEC making up the 12-team bracket, including No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Texas, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 11 OU. That entire group except for Texas also made the CFP last season. All three of those other teams are also on OU's clearly loaded 2026 schedule.

With two SEC teams from the Sooners' 2026 schedule on their side of the bracket, there's a good chance they would get another rematch in the playoff like last year if they got past Texas Tech and Ohio State. However, that side of the bracket also includes defending national champion Indiana as the No. 7 seed with home-field advantage for the first time against Texas A&M.

Texas, as usual, got handed the easy road in McMurphy's prediction with lone Group of Six representative UTSA in the first round, followed by ACC rep No. 4 Miami, which is replacing a ton of talent after making the College Football Playoff National Championship Game last season.

The Longhorns would, though, have McMurphy's projected top seed and national champion Notre Dame to deal with after the Fighting Irish thought they were snubbed from last year's playoff. Unfortunately, McMurphy didn't lay out how he believed Notre Dame would win the national title and who that road would include.

Reading between the bracket, the fact the Sooners' schedule includes three future CFP teams, plus the rest of their stacked conference slate, a nonconference road trip to Michigan and no FCS cupcakes, it seems OU's move to the SEC with an improved schedule could once again help propel the Sooners into the CFP, even with a few possible losses.