Oklahoma’s 2024-2026 Schedule Run Rivals Any Stretch in Program History

Column

Oklahoma's 2026 schedule is difficult — but so were the 2024 and 2025 slates. Joining the SEC will do that to you.

Oklahoma’s identity has been built on winning big against elite competition, and inside the Barry Switzer Center, the mindset is simple: the opponent has to deal with Oklahoma, too.

But that shouldn't take away from the absolute crucible the 2026 slate is shaping up to be for Brent Venables' program. It appears this year's may be the toughest to date since joining the SEC. Any success that comes for Oklahoma will be a direct result of this three-year stretch of scheduling adversity.

If projections hold, Oklahoma will face four top-10 opponents in 2026 — something the program has experienced only once before. Combined with the Sooners’ difficult 2024 and 2025 schedules, this new SEC era may already be producing one of the toughest three-year stretches in OU history.

As it stands, OU will face off against three teams that finished ranked in the top-10 of the AP and Coaches Poll last year — Ole Miss (No. 3), Georgia (No. 5 & 6) and Texas A&M (No. 8). Those three teams will more than likely be preseason top-10 teams once the polls come out during the summer.

Texas will also join those three teams in the top-10.

Given the caliber of opponents in 2024 and 2025, where does this three-year stretch rank in Oklahoma history?

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.

Criteria

If “tough schedule” starts with four top-10 opponents in 2026, Oklahoma’s 2024–26 run raises the bar entirely — a three-year gauntlet few stretches in program history can match.

Quick note: this is a tricky comparison and not a clean one. The 2026 rankings are projected with no final results yet, while historical schedules rely on rankings at the time of each game, which muddies any year-to-year comparison.

Take 2025 as an example: Texas opened the season ranked No. 2, but losses to Ohio State and Florida dropped the Longhorns out of the top 10 before the Red River matchup. Ole Miss didn't enter the top-10 until week six and would be No. 9 when it faced OU in Norman. Hindsight now shows the Sooners facing two top-10 opponents in 2025.

Conference championships and bowl games are excluded, as they are not regularly scheduled games.

Rankings History at Oklahoma

The AP Poll began in 1936. Oklahoma played its first ranked opponent that year, falling 14-0 to No. 15 Nebraska.

OU struggled against the few ranked opponents they faced in the 1930s, with losses to No. 2 Tennessee in the program’s first Orange Bowl, 7-6 to No. 12 Missouri in 1939, and defeats against No. 12 Nebraska and No. 15 Santa Clara in 1940, before finally breaking through with a 16-6 win over No. 8 Santa Clara in 1941 — also the school's first win over a top-10 opponent.

Since then, the Sooners have faced top-10 opponents in 66 of the 84 seasons. In 41 of those 66 seasons, Oklahoma faced multiple top-10 opponents.

The most top-10 teams Oklahoma has faced in a single regular season? It's a tie with 1995 and the coming 2026 season with four.

The Toughest Three-Year Stretch?

1971-1973 saw Chuck Fairbanks' and eventually Barry Switzer's Sooners face three top-10 teams in each season.

1984-1986 is a good example of how it's tough to project OU's 2026 schedule before we know the results.

Oklahoma faced three top-10 teams in 1984 and just one in 1985, but that number is a bit misleading. Miami — which beat OU in Norman — opened the season unranked, lost to Florida in its first game, then surged to No. 2 before falling in the Sugar Bowl, clearing the path for the Sooners to secure their sixth national title.

The 1990s were unkind to Oklahoma. To make matters worse, the Sooners' stretch from 1993-1995 saw them face six top-10 teams, with four in 1995.

When OU won its seventh national championship in 2000, it endured three top-10 teams — only to follow that up with seasons in 2001 and 2002 where it faced four more.

The longest uninterrupted streak the program faced top-10 opponents? 33 seasons from 1957 until 1990 — when Nebraska and Texas became perennial powers in the sport.

Where Does 2024-2026 Rank?

Simply by virtue of 2026 potentially tying the program record for top-10 opponents in a regular season, 2024-2026 is about as daunting a three year stretch in program history.

The stretch from 1971-1973 is in the discussion, as is the period from 1983-1985. 2000-2002 will always come to mind when debating difficult stretches in Sooner scheduling history.

But the possibility that OU’s 2024–2026 stretch could rank as one of the most difficult three-year runs in program history gives perspective of where the program will live in the SEC.

Historically, Oklahoma had built-in top-10 games in most seasons during Nebraska's heyday. When Texas was rolling under Darrell Royal, it lived in the top-10.

Now, OU competes in a conference deep enough that top-10 teams can emerge from nearly every corner of the league in a given season.

If Oklahoma is to compete and win its eighth national championship, schedules like this will be common. The Sooners will face multiple top-10 teams in any given season for the most part.

This is what they signed up for.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow