Just How Tough Has Oklahoma's Schedule Been This Season?

The Sooners have endured what Brent Venables believes could be one of the toughest schedules in OU's long history.

Oct 26, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables leads his team onto the field prior to the game against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Oklahoma has endured one of the most difficult schedules in the country this season, and coach Brent Venables believes it might even be one of the toughest in OU’s long history. 

The release of the latest College Football Playoff rankings for Week 13 on Tuesday night included seven teams on the Sooners’ 2024 schedule – No. 3 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 18 South Carolina, No. 20 Tulane and No. 23 Missouri. That means OU has faced or will face more than one-fourth of the ranked teams in the country. 

Having already played everyone on that list but Alabama, which the Sooners will host at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, OU is the only team in the nation with at least six former opponents inside the CFP top 25. Based on the AP Poll, OU is one of only six teams that has faced at least five teams inside that top 25. 

“We’ve had an incredibly challenging schedule, maybe one of the best and most challenging in Oklahoma history, but we got better in about every area on defense,” Venables said in the midst of his opening statement during Tuesday’s weekly press conference. 

According to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, OU has the fourth-best strength of schedule in the country behind fellow SEC members Georgia, Florida and Mississippi State. The difference is each of those programs played a currently ranked Power 4 team in their non-conference slate. OU hosted and beat Tulane, though, which is now ranked 20th at 9-2 and a contender to earn the College Football Playoff’s Group of Five champion bid. 

A schedule like that obviously makes for a tough season, as only two of the teams with the 15 toughest schedules are ranked in any poll – Georgia and South Carolina. The Sooners, meanwhile, are 5-5 overall and 1-5 in conference play in their first year in the SEC. That record includes a three-game losing streak during a winless October. 

But the Sooners were anticipating more of a challenge with their move from the Big 12 to the SEC this year. Just maybe not this daunting. 

“How ready we are, we're excited for the challenge,” Venables said at SEC Media Days before the season kicked off. “I think you have to go through it. I think it's probably -- as a coach, I think going through it gives you the best litmus test. There's nothing that you can read about or even watch on tape, to be honest with you. We know the challenges from a roster standpoint. The trenches is where this conference is decided usually year in and year out, incredibly challenging from that standpoint. The length, the speed, the play at quarterback, the coaching acumen from top to bottom. 

“Again, you're not going to sneak up anywhere, any week in any venue and show up and luck up and win. And so it's a conference that's about earning what you get, and I think going through it a season you'll figure that out. You'll figure out what was good, what wasn't good, the areas of your program, your roster that needs improvement so that you can match up and have an opportunity to compete for championships.”

As Venables mentioned, the film watched or articles read about the SEC could not prepare the Sooners for actually being out there. He was also correct about the level of competition highlighting where a roster is flawed, as offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh, once a mastermind who could seemingly do no wrong, is now receiving criticism as his group gets whooped Saturday after Saturday. 

Since a 51-3 win over Temple in the season opener, the Sooners haven’t breathed other than the gifts of a blowout thanks to a midseason matchup with an FCS team and a pair of bye weeks. 

OU is just coming off its second bye week before hosting No. 7 Alabama, which 8-2. The regular-season finale will be a trip to LSU, which is now unranked at 6-4 but was ranked as high as eighth before dropping its last three games. The Sooners have to steal a win from one of those two to reach six wins and bowl eligibility. If not, OU will miss out on bowl season for the first time since 1998. 

"The bye week was awesome. Getting a week off was really nice, especially playing a schedule like this,” OU quarterback Jackson Arnold said. “Honestly, it's tough. Week after week you're playing some studs, playing some really good teams. So having that bye week was really nice. And on top of that, being able to game plan for Alabama an extra week was super helpful too."