Oklahoma Players, Coaches 'Confident' They'll Rebound Against Tennessee

NORMAN — Oklahoma is in need of a quick rebound.

The Sooners’ College Football Playoff chances took a massive hit on Saturday, as they lost 34-26 at home to then-No. 8 Ole Miss.

The good news? They’ve been in a similar situation recently.

After starting the 2025 season 5-0, Oklahoma lost 23-6 against Texas in the Red River Rivalry and dropped nine spots in the AP poll. Oklahoma responded well the week after the loss, though, defeating South Carolina 26-7 on the road to clinch bowl eligibility seven days later.

Fast forward two weeks, and the Sooners are in a similar position: OU — now ranked No. 18 — heads to Knoxville on Saturday to battle No. 14 Tennessee after a loss.

“You’re always learning every single week,” OU coach Brent Venables said. “Our guys are going to be ready for the challenge of this week and the enormity of what’s in front of them. I know they’re looking forward to it. Having a good week of practice, being as prepared as we can be.”

The Sooners dominated all three phases of the game against South Carolina.

Oklahoma rushed for 171 yards as a team, while the Gamecocks mustered only 54 yards on the ground. The Sooners also turned South Carolina over twice, while OU’s offense went without a fumble or an interception.

Safety Peyton Bowen believes that togetherness paved the way for the Sooners’ bounce-back performance a couple weeks ago. And he also knows that similar camaraderie will be necessary for OU to put together another strong response against the Volunteers.

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“I think we just banded together as a group,” Bowen said. “I don’t think we lost faith at all after that Texas game or lost faith now. It’s just a smaller margin for error now is how we look at it.”

Tennessee’s offense is among college football’s best.

The Volunteers are second in the nation in scoring offense (45.6 points per game) and third in total offense (510.1 yards per game). Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has thrown for 2,344 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions on 65.4 percent passing. His top target is wide receiver Chris Brazzell II, who is sixth nationally with 740 receiving yards.

Senior defensive end R Mason Thomas said that, while the mindset needs to be similar to what it was before the South Carolina, the game plan needs to be different.

“Tennessee is a team of its own,” Thomas said. “Can’t study the same people, can’t study the same quarterback, can’t study the same defense, offense, special teams. The only thing you can really transfer over is mindset, physicality and just habits.”

Oklahoma badly needs a win over Tennessee to realistically stay in the race for the 12-team College Football Playoff.

And the Volunteers are a much greater challenge than the Gamecocks were a couple weeks ago: Tennessee is 6-2, while South Carolina has faltered to 3-5 since losing to OU.

Still, OU quarterback John Mateer has plenty of confidence after responding well to adversity after the Texas game.

“Just shows that we’ve already done it,” Mateer said. “We’ve already had a little disappointment and we’ve been able to come back and dominate. We have a game on Saturday if we’re ready or not, so we gotta be ready.”