In less than four weeks -- a mere 24 days, to be exact -- Oklahoma will kick off its 132nd season of college football, hosting the University of Texas-El Paso on Friday night, Sept. 4, at a sold-out Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Oklahoma is 102-23-6 in season openers, and as you would expect, the winning percentage goes up in the first home game of the season (85-12-4). The Sooners have won 19 consecutive home openers. The last time they lost their first home game of the season was in 2005, a 17-10 loss to TCU, in the Horned Frogs' inaugural season as a member of the Mountain West Conference.
For the first time in its long history, Oklahoma will play a nine-game league schedule in what is widely considered the strongest conference, top to bottom, in college football. Six of the Sooners' 2026 opponents are ranked in the Preseason Coaches Poll, including a non-conference contest the second game of the season on the road at No. 16 Michigan.
Oklahoma is 150-109-10, a winning percentage of .558, all-time against the dozen teams it will face in the 2026 regular season. Interestingly, the Sooners have a winning record against only three of the nine SEC teams on the 2026 schedule. That's a little misleading, though, because outside of Texas, Texas A&M and Missouri, all of which were members of the Big 12 before moving to the SEC, Oklahoma has played a total of only 11 games against the six other SEC teams on the schedule.
The Sooners' third go around as a member of the all-mighty SEC features as brutal a 12-game slate of games as Oklahoma has faced in its 132-year history. In fact, the OU football schedule over the past three seasons may represent the three most difficult, in terms of the quality of the opponents, program history.
In a few short weeks, you will start learning much more about the teams Oklahoma will line up against this season. In the meantime, here are some fun facts about each of the Sooners' dozen 2026 regular-season opponents to whet the appetite in anticipation of start of the new season:
Sept. 4 vs. UTEP
The Sooners' season opener will be played in Norman, where Oklahoma has won 18 consecutive home openers. Formerly known as Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy, UTEP's nickname is the Miners and its mascot is Paydirt Pete. On July 1, UTEP officially became a member of the Mountain West Conference.
Oklahoma owns a 5-0 record all-time against UTEP. Four of the games have been played in Norman. The combined score of those four games is 224-35 in favor of the Sooners.
Sept. 12 at Michigan
This will be Oklahoma's first-ever football trip to Ann Arbor and the Big House, which seats over 100,000 rabid Wolverine fans. Oklahoma owns a 2-0 record vs. Michigan in the all-time series. When the two teams played the first game of a two-year home-and-home series last season in Norman, won by the Sooners 24-13, it marked 50 years since the only other game between these two college football blue-blood programs. The two teams met for the first time in the 1976 (1975 season) Orange Bowl, with No. 3 Oklahoma defeating No. 5 Michigan, 14-6.
Sept. 19 vs. New Mexico
Oklahoma and the New Mexico Lobos have faced each other on the gridiron just two times previously. Both games were played in Norman five years apart in the 1930s (1930 and 1935). New Mexico is still looking for its first touchdown against the Sooners, failing to score in each of the two previous encounters. Oklahoma won 47-0 in 1930 and 25-0 five years later.
Sept. 26 at Georgia
Athens, Georgia, is another place that an Oklahoma football team has never played in its storied history. In fact, Oklahoma and reigning SEC champion Georgia have played each other just one other time, in a classic College Football Playoff semifinal game in January 2019 (2018 season). The Bulldogs overcame a 31-17 halftime deficit to defeat Baker Mayfield and the Sooners 54-48 in overtime.
In the last 10 seasons under head coach Kirby Smart, Georgia is 56-5 playing at home between the hedges at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldogs have lost just one game at home in the past six seasons: a 24-21 loss the Alabama last season.
Oct. 10 vs. Texas in Dallas
Oklahoma and archrival Texas played 23 times in football between 1900 and 1923. In a couple of those years, the two teams played each other twice in the same season. Texas led the series 14-8-1 during that span.
There was a six-year hiatus in the series from 1924 to 1929. The series resumed again in 1929 and has been played every year since then. Since 1932, the game has been held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on the second weekend in October during the State Fair of Texas. Eleven times since the Associated Press college football poll was launched in 1936, both OU and Texas have been ranked in the top-five nationally and twice as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams (1963 and 1984).
This year is the 122nd game in this rivalry series. Texas leads the all-time series 65-51-5. Since 2000, however, Oklahoma owns a 17-10 advantage.
Read more: Where the Red River Rivalry ranks among the SEC's greatest rivalries
Oct. 17 vs. Kentucky
This year will be the first time Oklahoma and Kentucky have met in football since the 1982 season. The Sooners are 2-1 in the all-time series vs. Kentucky. The 1982 game was played at Kentucky with OU winning 29-8. In 1950, Kentucky handed top-ranked Oklahoma its first and only loss of the season, 13-7, in the Sugar Bowl. Despite the loss, OU was awarded its first national championship as the No. 1 team in the final AP Poll for that season.
Oct. 24 at Mississippi State
This will be the first football game played between Oklahoma and Mississippi State. Sooner fans who make the trip to Starkville, Mississippi, to attend this game will get their first exposure to Mississippi State's long-standing cowbell auditory tradition.
Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby is an OU alum and former Sooner player and offensive coordinator. Lebby is 7-18 in two seasons at Mississippi State. It is his first head-coaching job.
Oct. 31 vs. South Carolina
This will be the third straight season Oklahoma and South Carolina have faced each other. Before OU's first season in the SEC in 2024, the two schools had never played in football.
The two teams split the two previous games, which each team winning on the other's home field. South Carolina was a 35-9 road victor in Norman in 2024, and the Sooners evened the score with a 26-7 win last season at South Carolina.
Gamecocks' head coach Shane Beamer was special teams coordinator at Oklahoma under Lincoln Riley from 2018-20.
Nov. 7 at Florida
This game will mark another first in Oklahoma football history. The Sooners have never been to the famed Swamp (aka Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville. This will be the third game in the all-time series between the two schools. The first meeting between the Gators and the Sooners was in the 2008 BCS National Championship Game, pitting two Heisman-winning quarterbacks -- OU's Sam Bradford and Florida's Tim Tebow -- against each other. No. 1 Florida prevailed 24-14 over No. 2 and previously unbeaten Oklahoma. The same two teams squared off again a dozen years later in 2020 in the Cotton Bowl. That contest went to the Sooners, 55-20.
Nov. 14 vs. Ole Miss
Oklahoma is winless in three previous games against the Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebs defeated the Sooners 27-25 in the Independence Bowl in Bob Stoops' first season at OU in 1999. They also own back-to-back wins over the Sooners as SEC foes: 26-14 at Ole Miss in 2024 and 34-26 last season in Norman. Ole Miss came from behind in each of the games the last two seasons to remain unbeaten against Oklahoma.
Nov. 21 vs. Texas A&M
Oklahoma ends the regular season with back-to-back games against former Big 12 foes. The Sooners will host Texas A&M in OU's final home game of the 2026 season. Oklahoma is 19-12 overall vs. the Aggies, including the last seven in a row played in Norman, but the two teams have not played since the 2012 Cotton Bowl. Johnny Manziel and A&M rolled to a 41-13 win in that game. Nov. 21 will be Senior Day. That spells bad news for the Aggies, because Oklahoma has won 11 consecutive games on Senior Day.
Nov. 28 at Missouri
Oklahoma is 68-25-5 all-time against its rival from the bordering state of Missouri. The two former Big 12 foes have split their two meetings as SEC teams, each winning on its home field. Mizzou won 30-23 in Columbia in 2024, and OU turned the tables with a 17-6 win last season in Norman.
Missouri is 3-21 vs. Oklahoma since the 1984 season, including a 36-27 loss to the Sooners in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game, when Mizzou was ranked No. 1 in the nation.
The two teams have been engaged in some fierce recruiting battles in recent seasons with the Sooners losing several commits from the Kansas City and St. Louis areas to the Tigers.
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