Oklahoma Debuts in the Top 10 of the Coaches Poll

The coaches are high on the Sooners entering the 2026 season.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Days in Tampa. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 2026 preseason Coaches Poll is in. 

Oklahoma will start the season in the top 10 in the eyes of the coaches, as the Sooners checked in at nine. 

Brent Venables took the program back to the College Football Playoff in 2025, and with quarterback John Mateer and other key starters returning on both sides of the ball, expectations are again high in Norman. 

The path ahead won’t be easy, however. 

Six of Oklahoma’s 12 opponents this year landed in the preseason top 25, and three others received votes. 

The Sooners will travel to Athens in Week 4 to battle No. 3 Georgia, then will meet No. 4 Texas in the Cotton Bowl two weeks later to renew the Red River Rivalry. 

OU will host No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 10 Ole Miss while taking trips to No. 16 Michigan and No. 25 Missouri. 

Florida, South Carolina and New Mexico all received votes as well. 

In total, nine SEC schools landed in the top 25. 

Alabama was ranked at No. 11, LSU landed at No. 13 and Tennessee checked in at No. 18. 

The rest of the top 10 was filled by Ohio State at No. 1, Oregon at No. 2, Notre Dame at No. 5, Indiana at No. 6 and Miami (FL) at No. 7. 

Ohio State led the way with 38 first-place votes, but No. 6 Indiana had the second-most first-place votes (14). Oregon received six first-place votes, Georgia got seven first-place votes, Texas had two first-place votes and Notre Dame was the only other school that received any first-place votes with five.

Oklahoma was ranked fourth among SEC teams by the coaches, which represents a contrast from where the media who gathered in Tampa for SEC Media Days had the Sooners. 

OU was slotted seventh in that poll. Ole Miss, LSU and Alabama were all above the Sooners in the SEC Preseason Media Poll, but those teams fell behind Oklahoma in the Coaches Poll. 

The Sooners have been ranked in 26 of the last 27 editions of the preseason Coaches Poll, with 2025 representing the lone season that Oklahoma was left out. OU has been rated inside the top 20 in each of those 26 appearances in the preseason Coaches Poll. 

The AP Poll is scheduled to be released on Aug. 17 at 11 a.m.

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