While the 2026 college football season hasn't gone the way the Oklahoma Sooners wanted, there is still plenty of time to make it memorable. The Sooners are 2-2, with losses to the Michigan Wolverines and the Georgia Bulldogs, and a narrow 14-6 win over the New Mexico Lobos.
The Sooners' offense has been a major disappointment this season. Star quarterback John Mateer has struggled with turnovers this season. He's turned it over six times in the last three games. Due to those struggles, the optimism from last season's College Football Playoff run has started to fade.
In fact, ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) measures team strength and is meant to be the best predictor of a team's performance for the rest of the season. It ranks the Sooners No.
9 in the SEC after the bye week.
While being ranked No. 9 in the SEC by the SEC is far from where Oklahoma expected to be entering the season, the Sooners still have an opportunity to change that outlook. The bye week gave the team a chance to reset, and now Oklahoma has perhaps the perfect opportunity to prove the projections wrong with the No. 1 Texas Longhorns waiting in the Red River Rivalry.
A win over the Longhorns would immediately change the conversation surrounding the Sooners and could provide the momentum needed for a strong second half. Oklahoma may not control where the FPI ranks it, but it can control what happens on the field, and Saturday gives the Sooners a chance to start rewriting the 2026 season's story.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma ranked as a middle-of-the-pack SEC team by ESPN's FPI
