UTEP vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Hello Sooner Nation and welcome to another installment of Sooner football and the Steamroller. I'm thrilled to be here and back with you to provide contextless commentary and uninformed opinions based on nothing more than gut feel and hope. It's the new American way after all.

The 2026 Sooners, fresh off a playoff appearance have high hopes and for good reason. They return a ton of starters on defense, plus it's year 2 of Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer. They do, however, have to run the gauntlet of what might be the toughest schedule in all of college football. Georgia, texas, Ole Miss, Michigan, and Texas A&M are all preseason top 20 teams.

First things first, it's a not top 20 foe in UTEP. The Miners will hopefully come into Norman, find themselves on the wrong end of a lopsided ass beating, collect a paycheck and head back to that fabled west Texas town of El Paso.

OFFENSE

You want optimism? The Sooners offensive line might be the most improved unit year over year. They have Mateer and a stable of running backs. Isaiah Sategna returns at receiver and Joe Jon Finley is out as TE coach, replaced no less a personage than future first ballot hall of famer Jason Witten. Oh yes, optimism is high.

All we need to see in this one is an injury free performance. The line I just spoke of has been "dinged up" at Center. No more injuries. Apart from that, how about some commitment to the run game. How about working the TE game and how about spreading the ball around to these new receivers to see what Mateer might have to work with going forward.

For my OPOG I'm going Mateer. He says the thumb is fully recovered. "They" say he's been working on his mechanics. "They" say he's been hitting the weight room. Let's see all that hard work pay off, my guy. I like him for 300 yards, 4 total TD's. 3 passing, 1 running.

DEFENSE

The Sooners have an embarrassment of riches here with continuity to boot. David Stone and Jayden Jackson shore up the front. Kip Lewis and Owen Heineke are back at linebacker. Eli Bowen, the better of the two Bowen brothers, is back at CB. I could go on, but I can't remember all the names and I'm not interested in looking it up. Just trust me when I say this unit is full of Dawgs and they are hungry.

I'll take Kip Lewis as my DPOG. I think he goes Ham this year and sets himself up for a nice NFL payday. He's good for a sack, about 12 tackles and, hell why not, a forced fumble.

SCORE

We're getting 2026 off with a bang under the Friday Night Lights in Norman. I like the Sooners big here.

Sooners 56, UTEP 0

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner