The Oklahoma Sooners faced perhaps the most difficult schedule in all of college football in 2025, and OU navigated a brutal slate well enough to make it to the College Football Playoff with 10 wins. Now, it appears that the Sooners will have to face a daunting schedule again to make a return trip in 2026.
Josh Pate, who hosts "Josh Pate's College Football Show", identified the five teams that he believes face the hardest schedules for the 2026 season. It was no surprise that Oklahoma was among those teams, as they've been given no favors by the SEC schedule-makers since they entered the league in 2024.
"I think Oklahoma's got a tough schedule too," Pate said. "Oklahoma, just like Texas, plays a huge Big Ten out of conference opponent in the first couple of weeks when they go to Michigan in Week 2. They go to Georgia in Week 4. So, by the time OU gets to their bye week, they will have already played in Ann Arbor and Athens, and then they've got to go to Dallas to play Texas coming out of the bye week."
During the first six weeks of the season, the Sooners will be heavily tested multiple times. Their season-opener against UTEP is followed up by that absolutely massive Michigan game the following week. After coming home to face New Mexico, the Sooners will head back on the road to face Georgia, before finally getting a break with their bye week in Week 5. However, coming out of that bye, it's a trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas for the annual Red River Rivalry matchup with Texas. That's three extremely good opponents over the course of five games in six weeks.
Pate also takes a look at the stretch run of OU's schedule, which looks a bit different than it has over the past couple of years.
"Look at their final five games, because they've got to play eight in a row to finish the year, too," Pate said. "Their final five, it's South Carolina and then at Florida, and those are two total wild-card teams. They could be five-win teams, could be nine-win teams, and neither would really surprise me. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, at Missouri back-to back-to-back, and really those five games back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, it just makes it a really, really tough finish to the season."
After the battle with the Longhorns in Week 6, the Sooners host Kentucky and visit Mississippi State, before the schedule really ramps up again over the last five weeks. South Carolina and Florida will both be better in 2026 than they were in 2025, and the final three weeks of Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Missouri will prove treacherous for Brent Venables and the Sooners.
Life in the SEC means tricky and difficult schedules every single year for the Sooners. Oklahoma used the brutal slate as a springboard to the CFP last year, and if they can navigate 2026's challenges well, they may be poised to repeat that feat this fall.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: OU among teams with hardest schedules in 2026, per Josh Pate