A year ago, Oklahoma didn’t need its offense to be great.
It needed it to survive.
The Sooners rode one of the nation’s premier defenses to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2025, winning games with physicality, timely turnovers, and elite defensive execution. But while Brent Venables finally fielded the championship-caliber defense he had envisioned since arriving in Norman, the offense often looked like a unit searching for its identity.
Now comes the hard part.
The defense remains loaded entering 2026, but if Oklahoma is going to take the next step from playoff participant to national championship contender, the offense has to become a strength instead of merely avoiding being a weakness.
The pieces are there.
Perhaps for the first time in several years, so is the continuity.
Subscribe to get access
Read more of this content when you subscribe today.
A subscription helps us to run the site and feed the writers. It’s just $6 for one year and it makes a huge difference. Plus, we think the subscription content is pretty good as well. Subscriptions reset every January 1st.