Advanced Metrics That Bode Well for Oklahoma Ahead of 2026 Season

The 2025 season signaled significant growth for Oklahoma.

The Sooners reached the College Football Playoff for the first time under coach Brent Venables, finishing the season 10-3. OU’s defense ranked first in the SEC in scoring defense, total defense and sacks, helping the Sooners overcome their offensive inconsistency.

Oklahoma’s pursuit of national championship No. 8 will begin on Friday, Sept. 4, when the Sooners host UTEP.

Here are some under-the-radar metrics that bode well for the Sooners’ 2026 squad:

Sategna’s deep-ball numbers

Obviously, Isaiah Sategna’s track-star speed was a difference maker late in the season. He finished his first season at OU with 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 catches, and he logged three receptions of longer than 50 yards.

The advanced stats show an even more detailed look at how effective Sategna was as a deep-ball threat.

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On targets 20 yards or deeper, Sategna registered a remarkable 96.7 Pro Football Focus (PFF) receiving grade. Of his 965 receiving yards, 301 of them came on deep throws, and Sategna didn’t drop one deep pass all season.

The 5-10, 185-pound wide receiver also finished the season with 524 yards after catch.

Sategna served as a safety net for quarterback John Mateer when the Sooners’ offense struggled. And even though OU has upgraded its wide receiver corps, Sategna’s down-field abilities will be crucial for OU again in 2026.

Elite run blockers

For Oklahoma’s run game to take a step forward in 2026, the Sooners’ linemen must regularly open up running lanes — and the team retained two key pieces who could make that a reality.

Center Jake Maikkula boasted a stellar 81.1 PFF run-blocking grade last year, which ranks first among OU’s returning offensive linemen. Maikkula transferred in from Stanford ahead of the 2025 season and made a significant impact, appearing on 710 snaps.

Just behind Maikkula was guard Eddy Pierre-Louis, who will be a redshirt sophomore in the fall. Pierre-Louis ended his first full college football season with a 79.2 run-blocking grade.

Both Maikkula and Pierre-Louis are expected to be starters, which bodes well for the tailbacks tasked with running through holes in the middle of the offensive line.

Boganowski’s hard-hitting ability

Safety Michael Boganowski’s 2025 campaign showed why his teammates and coaches often call him the team’s hardest hitter.

Boganowski made 31 tackles and only missed two tackles during his sophomore year. He ended the season with an impressive 83.2 tackling grade — the only two Sooners with higher grades were Sammy Omosigho (90.1) and Kendel Dolby (83.4), and both of them transferred out after the season.

Boganowski appeared in all 13 of OU’s games a year ago, and his role will be even larger in 2026, as Robert Spears-Jennings played his final college football game on Dec. 19.

Judging from his ability to finish tackles, the Sooners have someone in Boganowski who can fill the void Spears-Jennings leaves behind nicely.

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