Brent Venables got Oklahoma back to the College Football Playoff in 2025, and while the season was a massive success, merely making the 12-team field isn’t good enough for anyone in Norman — Venables included. 

The Sooners enter 2026 with something that has been missing on both sides of the ball for a few years: continuity. 

OU returns its starting quarterback, John Mateer, for the first time since Dillon Gabriel started Venables’ first two seasons as head coach.

Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle is back, and while Venables lost cornerbacks coach Jay Valai to the Buffalo Bills, Venables has everyone else back on his staff and he’s the architect of the defense. 

The schedule will be tough again, but expectations are high for Venables’ fifth team at Oklahoma.

Here are three areas the Sooners need to improve to get back in the national championship picture.

Run the Ball

Venables hasn’t shied away from OU’s issues running the football. 

He’s put improvement in the rushing attack at the forefront all throughout the offseason, from working to sharpen the mentality of the offense to bringing in pieces like right tackle E’Marion Harris and a virtually new tight end room to help the cause. 

More consistency on the ground will take pressure off Mateer’s shoulders. 

It will not only allow OU to control the clock and give its defense a rest, but it will also open up the passing game downfield if the second and third levels of opposing defenses truly have to worry about bottling up the run and the pass. 

The inability to run the ball was the Sooners’ most glaring issue in 2025, so there is plenty of room for improvement this fall. 

Limit Mateer’s Turnovers

At times, Mateer had to do everything for OU’s offense in 2025. 

There were memorable moments, but Mateer also had a handful of head-scratching mistakes. 

He threw a career-high 11 interceptions a year ago, and his downturn in turnovers in November coincided with the Sooners’ employing conservative game plans. 

His worst moment came in the loss to Texas, where he threw three picks, but that performance came 17 days after thumb surgery, where he clearly was unable to throw the ball downfield with real accuracy. 

But he threw a pick in each of his first three games on questionable decisions, then he threw a nearly catastrophic pick against Tennessee when the Sooners were just trying to milk the clock late. 

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He tossed another three picks against LSU, and the pick six he threw against Alabama helped the Crimson Tide roar all the way back after digging a 17-point hole in the College Football Playoff. 

Mateer’s freewheeling nature produced incredible moments, and that will lead to risky throws. The tradeoff in those moments is usually worth it, but he can cut down on his misfires elsewhere to find a balance between pushing the envelope and taking care of the football. 

Avoid the Back-breaking Special Teams Plays

Oklahoma was excellent on special teams in 2025 for the most part. 

Kicker Tate Sandell won the program’s first Lou Groza Award for his incredible season, and special teams played a big role in massive victories, like Isaiah Sategna’s first punt return in Tuscaloosa that set OU’s offense up deep in Alabama territory.

But the few special teams lapses were monumental. 

Texas effectively put away the Red River Showdown by returning a punt for a touchdown, though Venables correctly pointed out a key block in the back that wasn’t called that helped spring the touchdown. 

But in the Cotton Bowl, the call stood, and it’s the kind of play that cannot happen when lining up against the best competition on the schedule. 

Then, in the CFP, punter Grayson Miller oddly dropped the football, leading to a blocked punt. Alabama was able to take that play and start clawing its way back into the contest. 

Doug Deakin has done a phenomenal job with the Sooners’ special teams units, but there are still improvements to be made in 2026.

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