It seems nothing is going Oklahoma's way to stir up belief that the Sooners actually have a chance against No. 2 Georgia in their SEC opener.
OU hits the road to begin SEC play on Saturday after an abysmal offensive performance in its last two games against Michigan and New Mexico. The Bulldogs are undoubtedly better than both of those teams, and few environments compare to Sanford Stadium in Athens.
On top of a dormant offense and going into a ruckus environment, the Sooners also have a lengthy injury list that includes at least four starters.
With all that, there's still always a chance in college football, especially with Sooner Magic. Here's to predicting if OU can pull off the upset and what else could happen on Saturday afternoon.
Sooners finally get first interception of 2026 (Take 2)
This was also one of my predictions for last week against New Mexico, but it didn’t happen. It has to give eventually, and against Georgia would actually be an even better time.
There’s no denying the Sooners have to rely on their defense to even keep this one close, but whether or not they force turnovers will be the difference if OU gets blown out or maybe even pulls off an upset.
Georgia has a veteran at quarterback in Gunner Stockton, but Ty Simpson was also experienced and really good when the Sooners returned one of his passes for a touchdown at Alabama last year.
These massive games when the Sooners seemed overmatched tend to be when the defense steps up the biggest.
Owen Heinecke leads OU with double-digit tackles
It’s not really that bold to predict linebacker Owen Heinecke to be the Sooners’ leading tackler, but he’ll accomplish the feat again with at least 10 tackles.
With Cole Sullivan out and Kip Lewis hopefully returning from a knee injury, Heinecke might not even come off the field on Saturday. He’ll have to step up and be all over the place if the Sooners have any chance of shutting down Georgia’s offense that leads college football in scoring right now.
Sooners held under 75 rushing yards
I’m done making positive predictions about this OU running game, especially with the offensive line not at full strength again.
The Sooners enter Week 4 averaging 110.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks 123rd of 138 FBS teams. They were just held to a mere 61 yards against *checks notes* New Mexico.
Georgia’s numbers don’t matter this season since the Bulldogs haven’t played anyone yet, but it’s a guarantee that Kirby Smart has a stouter run defense than New Mexico. The Sooners could also find themselves down big at some point and forced to abandon the run game to air it out.
This won’t be the week the Sooners’ ground attack suddenly hits a new gear.
Final score prediction: Georgia 24, Oklahoma 10
This might not be quite the blowout many expect after watching the Sooners over the past two weeks, but Brent Venables’ defense is great enough to keep any game within reach at least for a little bit. The offense, though, still isn’t good enough to give the Sooners a real shot at an upset.
It’s also worth mentioning that FanDuel has the spread at 13.5 points, so this would have Georgia just barely covering it, and Vegas is usually pretty accurate.
Unless OU’s defense forces multiple turnovers and even returns one for a touchdown, the most the defense can do is keep it close, and even that will take a stellar performance. But, hey, Vegas and experts don’t account for Sooner Magic.
Georgia hasn’t been challenged yet, so the Bulldogs could get rocked after someone fights back for the first time in 2026, but this is a heavyweight fight, and the Sooners have been swinging like lightweights.
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