Oklahoma
Women’s Basketball Earns Highest Preseason Rank Since 2009 – University of Oklahoma
The ranking continues Oklahoma’s rise under fifth-year head coach Jennie Baranczyk, whose program has finished in the AP poll each of the last four seasons, including No. 11 last year — the team’s best final ranking since 2009–10. This year marks the seventh time OU has opened inside the top 10 (2002, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2024, 2025) and extends its active streak to 30 consecutive appearances in the poll, the fourth-longest in program history.
Picked fifth in the SEC preseason media poll, the Sooners return one of the nation’s most talented rosters. Oklahoma features four McDonald’s All-Americans, highlighted by preseason All-SEC first-team selection Raegan Beers, 2025 All-SEC honoree Payton Verhulst, junior standout Sahara William and top-ranked freshman Aaliyah Chavez, the consensus national high school player of the year.
OU is one of five SEC teams in the AP top 10, with the league leading the country with eight ranked programs. The Sooners are set to face 10 opponents in the poll in the regular season, including six in the top 10.
Oklahoma opens the regular season Nov. 3 against Belmont at Lloyd Noble Center at 4:30 p.m. CT. Fans can get an early look at the Sooners in an Oct. 29 exhibition vs. Oklahoma Christian set for 6 p.m in Norman. Admission to the exhibition is free, and no broadcast is scheduled.
On Wednesday, Baranczyk will join Beers, Verhulst, and Williams at SEC Basketball Tipoff in Birmingham, Ala. Oklahoma’s contingent will appear live on SEC Network at 4:20 p.m. and 5:35 p.m. CT.
Season tickets are on sale now starting at just $99 for general admission. Single-game tickets and mini plans are also available. For more information, contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424, email outickets@ou.edu or visit SoonerSports.com/Tickets.
Courtside seats for the 2025–26 season are now available on the west sideline and south baseline near the Oklahoma bench. Fans interested in more information should contact the Sooner Club at (405) 325-8000 or soonerclub@ou.edu.
Stay connected with Oklahoma Women’s Basketball by following the Sooners on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Want to make an impact? Join the 3-Point Club and help power the program’s continued success.
FULL AP TOP 25
1. UConn
2. South Carolina
3. UCLA
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Tennessee
9. NC State
10. Maryland
11. North Carolina
12. Ole Miss
13. Michigan
14. Iowa State
15. Notre Dame
16. Baylor
17. TCU
18. USC
19. Vanderbilt
20. Louisville
21. Iowa
22. Oklahoma State
23. Michigan State
T24. Kentucky
T24. Richmond
RV: Washington 79, Ohio St. 46, West Virginia 17, Princeton 17, Minnesota 15, Kansas St 15, Kansas 7, Stanford 3, South Dakota St. 3, Illinois 2, Nebraska 2, Columbia 2.
The Oklahoma Sooners are trying to finish the 2025 college football season with a championship run that begins with a first-round playoff matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide on Dec. 19 in Norman. After a 10-2 season, the Sooners found out during the SEC schedule reveal when they’ll play their 2026 opponents.
New to the SEC schedule this year is a nine-game conference slate. Also, Oklahoma will begin at least a four-year stretch with permanent rivals Texas, Missouri, and Ole Miss.
The Sooners open the season with nonconference matchups against UTEP, Michigan, and New Mexico. Michigan will be breaking in a new head coach after the surprising dismissal of Sherrone Moore.
Oklahoma will go on the road for their first conference game, taking on the defending SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs on Sept. 26. That marks the first time the Sooners will play in Athens for the first time in the history of the program. The Bulldogs own the only win in the series, which came in the infamous 2017 Rose Bowl. If the Sooners were to play the Dawgs in the 2025 College Football Playoff, it would come in the national championship game.
After the trip to Georgia, Oklahoma will have its only bye week of the season before facing the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Showdown on Oct. 10 in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The Sooners will return home to play the Kentucky Wildcats on Oct. 17. Kentucky will have a first-time head coach in Will Stein, leading the Wildcats to Norman for the first time since 1980.
Then, Oklahoma will go to Starkville to take on former offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Oct. 24 before closing the month welcoming another former assistant in Shane Beamer and the South Carolina Gamecocks on Oct. 31.
Then begins the month that will decide the Sooners’ College Football Playoff fates. They’ll open November with a road trip to the Swamp to take on the Florida Gators on Nov. 7. The last time the Sooners took on the Gators, Oklahoma earned a 55-20 win in the 2020 Alamo Bowl.
The Sooners will then return home on Nov. 14 to take on the Ole Miss Rebels in Norman for the second year in a row. Oklahoma lost a heartbreaker to the Rebels at the end of October, but that gave way to a magical November run that catapulted the Sooners into the College Football Playoff.
After the Rebels come to town, the Sooners will welcome the Texas A&M Aggies on Nov. 21. Texas A&M hasn’t been to Norman since a 41-25 win by Oklahoma. Landry Jones threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and Blake Bell ran for two scores out of the Belldozer package.
The Sooners will then close the season on the road against the Missouri Tigers. The former Big 8 and Big 12 foes have split their two contests as members of the SEC, each team winning at home. Oklahoma owns a decisive 68-25-5 record over the Tigers dating back to 1902.
There will be big expectations for the Sooners coming off of a 10-2 season and a College Football Playoff berth. They’ll bring back a lot of talent from this year’s roster, but 2026 will provide new challenges.
Oklahoma Sooners 2026 Schedule
- Sept. 5 vs. UT-El Paso Miners in Norman, Okla.
- Sept. 12 at Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Sept. 19 vs. New Mexico Lobos in Norman, Okla.
- Sept. 26 at Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia
- Oct. 3 BYE WEEK
- Oct. 10 vs. Texas Longhorns in Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas
- Oct. 17 vs. Kentucky Wildcats in Norman, Okla.
- Oct. 24 at Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss.
- Oct. 31 vs. South Carolina Gamecocks in Norman, Okla.
- Nov. 7 at Florida Gators in Gainesville, Fla.
- Nov. 14 vs. Ole Miss Rebels in Norman, Okla.
- Nov. 21 vs. Texas A&M Aggies in Norman, Okla.
- Nov. 28 at Missouri Tigers in Columbia, Missouri
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
NORMAN — To say that Oklahoma’s Tate Sandell has become a legitimate weapon for the College Football Playoff-bound Sooners would be putting it lightly.
The Sooners’ dynamite placekicker has already wrapped up First Team All-SEC honors and Special Teams Player of the Year in the conference.
Now, Sandell hopes to check a few more boxes off his wish list as early as Friday.
“It’s what me in eighth grade dreamed of in high school,” Sandell said on Wednesday when asked about the season he’s had. “These are all things you think about when you’re lying in bed, like, this is really happening. This is something that you work for, and it’s just such a blessing.”
Sandell is 23-of-24 on field goals this season — hitting 23 in a row since he missed his first kick of the season against Michigan. Not only is this consistency a school record at OU, but it’s a single-season record in the SEC as well.
Sandell has had a busy week already. He’s been jetting around the country doing community events for the Lou Groza Award — the coveted trophy that goes the the nation’s best kicker every season. He will find out Friday night if he will take the award home during the Home Depot College Football Awards show (ESPN, 6 p.m.).
Should Sandell win, he will become the first Sooner kicker to win the award.
More Oklahoma Football
“That’d be great, but it’s not in my hands,” Sandell said. “That’s not what I set out to win this season; it’s just to win games and make kicks, and that’s just a byproduct of our work. If that happens, that’s great.”
Sandell is up for the award against Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa and Georgia Tech’s Aidan Birr. Each kicker has their résumé that demands respect, yet it appears that Sandell is the favorite to win.
The University of Texas-San Antonio transfer did it in big moments in ballyhooed environments. Sandell’s four field goals, where he made three 50-plus yarders — 55, 51 and 55 — was a Neyland Stadium record So was the distance. Oklahoma’s “Red November” run, in large part, was aided by Sandell’s big leg.
“My swing is my swing,” Sandell said. “I’m not going to try to be somebody I’m not or swing like I’m not. I’m not going to swing out of my shoes. I’m going to give myself the best opportunity to make the kick as possible, and if it goes in, great. If it’s not, then it is what it is.”
“Another guy that’s a team guy, hasn’t flinched,” said head coach Brent Venables. “He’s been Boomer Sooner since the moment he signed his contract. And then he’s been just a stud when it comes to leading and just being a really good teammate.”
Humble he may be, but the Groza Award would be a cherry on top for any college kicker. Still, Sandell’s main focus is on Oklahoma’s rematch with Alabama on Dec. 19.
And yet, Oklahoma’s placekicker is not short on confidence — in himself, or his team.
“For us, it’s not about who we play,” Sandell said. “If we play our brand of football, we can compete with anybody in the country.”
The Oklahoma Sooners are readying themselves for the most crucial game of the season, and perhaps the Brent Venables era, when they host the Alabama Crimson Tide next Friday in the first round of the College Football Playoff. After a 10-2 season, which included a 6-2 mark in SEC play, six Sooners were named to the AP All-SEC teams.
That comes after 10 Sooners earned 11 All-SEC Honors as voted on by the coaches, and kicker Tate Sandell was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.
Selected to the first team were Sandell, punter Grayson Miller, and wide receiver Isaiah Sategna.
Sandell has the highest field goal percentage in the conference and has made all seven field goal attempts of 50 yards or more.
Miller is fourth in the nation, and first in the SEC, in punts downed inside the 20-yard line. Like Sandell, he’s been a special teams weapon for Brent Venables, helping Oklahoma win the field position battle in a number of their wins this season.
Sategna is tied for second in the SEC receptions with 65, yards with 948, and tied for fourth in the conference touchdowns. He’s been a big-play threat for the Sooners, especially in recent weeks. Sategna closed the season with back-to-back 100-yard days, giving him four on the season. He had more than 60 yards receiving in nine of Oklahoma’s last 10 games.
Earning second team honors for the Sooners were linebacker Owen Heinecke, defensive end R Mason Thomas, and defensive tackle Gracen Halton.
Thomas leads the Sooners with 6.5 sacks despite missing the final three games of the regular season, three and a half quarters vs. Tennessee (injury), and a half vs. Auburn (targeting suspension). He’s been a force each of the last two seasons, earning All-SEC second-team honors in 2024, and was a first-team selection as voted on by the league’s coaches this season.
Halton, like Thomas, was a member of Brent Venables first recruiting class in the 2022 cycle. He’s been awesome again this year, recording 3.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss, and 31 total tackles. He’s been a force in the middle, making life difficult in the running game and providing an interior pass rush for the Sooners.
Heinecke has been one of a number of breakout stars for Oklahoma as part of a great linebacker rotation. Heinecke is second on the team in total tackles and tackle for loss, behind only Kip Lewis, and has two sacks to his ledger as well. He’s come up big in key moments for Oklahoma, including the sack and forced fumble against Tennessee, which led to R Mason Thomas’ long touchdown return that changed the momentum of the game, and perhaps the season.
The Oklahoma Sooners have a talented roster and a number of players like Peyton Bowen, Kip Lewis, Eli Bowen, Courtland Guillory, Jaren Kanak, Febechi Nwaiwu, Taylor Wein, and David Stone who deserved inclusion on the All-SEC teams. Even still, six players and a host of players worthy of mention is a great thing for the Sooners as they get set to take on an Alabama Crimson Tide team that earned just three selections to the AP All-SEC teams.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
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