The Oklahoma Sooners get the No. 2 team in college football in Week 4, and now it's all but guaranteed the next time that they take the field, it will be against the top-ranked squad in the country. This is life in the SEC.
Just before the Sooners played No. 2 Georgia in their SEC opener, the No. 1 Texas Longhorns beat No. 14 Tennessee 20-17 on Saturday in Knoxville to improve to 4-0 and also keep their standing atop national rankings.
The Longhorns now get a week off before the Red River Rivalry on Oct. 10 in Dallas, and with no Week 5 pairings worthy of bumping anyone ahead of them, Texas should still be on top when it faces the Sooners. Even if the Bulldogs hammer OU, it still won't be enough to jump Texas after its top-15 win on the road, no matter how ugly it was at times.
Texas is still living off a come-from-behind 24-23 victory over then-No. 1 Ohio State in Week 2 at Austin. The Longhorns crushed Texas State 59-7 in their season opener and thumped UTSA 30-6 last week.
Give credit where it's due, though: the Longhorns have one of the most impressive resumes in college football, already with a pair of top-15 victories. If Ohio State keeps cruising and even wins the Big Ten, Texas could boast a better win than anyone else in the country by the time the College Football Playoff is here.
Sooner Nation is well aware that 2026 is not going as well for OU (2-1), and things could get even worse on Saturday. However, knocking down Texas from the top of the mountain would definitely bring light to what's been a dark time.
Sooners have shaky history vs. top teams, especially the Longhorns
The Sooners are 7-16-2 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 Poll, which is a disappointing .320 winning percentage.
The last time OU took down a top-ranked team was in 2007, when the Sooners handled Missouri 38-17 in the Big 12 Championship Game. There wasn't much disparity there, though, with OU still being a top-10 team and historically owning the Tigers.
If nothing changes for OU against Georgia, then no one will have faith in the Sooners against Texas.
This won't be the first time Texas is a No. 1 team the Sooners challenged. OU is an even worse 0-3-1 against the Longhorns when they're on top. Those losses include 20-13 in 1946, 28-7 in 1964 and 19-0 in 1965, then a 15-15 tie in 1984.
On the flip side of the rivalry, the Sooners have went into the Red River Rivalry as the No. 1 team three times with a 1-2 record. The only win was a 31-10 pummeling in 1978, then there was a 28-7 loss in 1963 and 45-35 deficit in 2008, which was the last time a team had a 1 next to their name on the second Saturday of October.
Now, if the Sooners do the unthinkable and upset Georgia on Saturday before also beating the Horns after a bye week, then they're right back in serious CFP contention, no matter how awful the offense has looked in the past two games.
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