Championship windows are precious.
Sometimes they stay open for years. Sometimes they slam shut before anyone realizes they were ever there.
For Oklahoma, the 2025 season proved something significant: Brent Venables has already built a defense capable of winning a national championship. The Sooners don’t need to become tougher. They don’t need to prove they belong in the SEC.
They already did.
The bigger question facing the 2026 season is much more uncomfortable.
Can Oklahoma survive if John Mateer cannot?
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