Oklahoma Sooners football coach Brent Venables sent a grim warning on 2026 Red River Rivalry game with Texas
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Oklahoma Sooners football coach Brent Venables sent a grim warning on 2026 Red River Rivalry game with Texas originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Oklahoma Sooners football coach Brent Venables’ program made the College Football Playoff field this past season, but was stopped short in their lone postseason contest against the Alabama Crimson Tide, 34-24. Was that a successful enough season to keep him off the hot seat in 2026? Yes, but conditionally.
CBS Sports’ Austin Nivison believes a fourth loss in five tries in the Red River Rivalry game against the Texas Longhorns could mark the beginning of the end in Norman for Venables.
“Since taking over at Oklahoma, Brent Venables is 1-3 against his biggest rival. Last year, the Sooners mustered only six points in an ugly showing, and the heat will be turned up on Venables if his team turns in a similar performance this fall. Venables has done some good things in Norman, but beating your rival is a non-negotiable in college football, and he hasn't done that often enough,” Nivison wrote.
Venables didn’t get a strong effort from quarterback John Mateer, who was recovering from a hand injury and probably wasn’t in the right condition to lead OU, or first-year play-caller Ben Arbuckle, in 2025. It didn’t help that the Longhorns’ defense had one of its most dominant efforts of the season, giving up 88 total yards in the second half, forcing three turnovers, and holding the Sooners’ attack to just six points on two field goals in the 23-6 blowout.
Texas got better offensively, while Oklahoma lost key defenders
One game doesn’t define a season. Still, it doesn’t bode well for Oklahoma that Texas got so much better on the offensive end, while the Sooners lost significant talent in the defensive trenches.
The Longhorns added top transfer receiver Cam Coleman, running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown, and tight end Michael Masunas, a strong blocker, in the portal. OU, meanwhile, lost elite EDGE R Mason Thomas, and run-swallowing tackles Gracen Halton and Damonic Williams.
The script doesn’t look good for Oklahoma. Still, when October 10, 2026, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas rolls around, there’s no guarantee Texas will live up to the billing. Perhaps the Sooners and Venables will finally get a signature rivalry win over the Longhorns for the first time in four years.
Venables better hope so if OU doesn't win it all, which few in the Sooner State are expecting.
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