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On Friday, Oklahoma released its schedule for the 2025-26 season and it’s an intriguing one. Roger Kish’s team has some different opponents and some excellent challenges for a revamped Sooner team. Oklahoma reloaded on the fly this offseason by hitting the transfer portal hard. They also have a highly regarded recruiting class that was primarily kept in redshirt status last year. We’ll start with the actual schedule itself. Rather than reposting it in order, we’ve broken it into three parts. The non-conference duals, conference duals, and special events. These are the schedules that we’ve already previewed: Cornell, Little Rock Non-Conference November 14th: Penn State (away) November 15th: Bucknell (away) November 23rd: Indiana (home) December 13th: Rutgers (away) December 14th: Rider (away) Conference January 11th: Oklahoma State (away) January 16th: Air Force (home) January 18th: West Virginia (away) January 30th: Iowa State (home) January 31st: Northern Iowa (home) February 8th: Arizona State (home) February 13th: Missouri (away) February 15th: Wyoming (away) March 6/7th: Big 12 Championships (Tulsa, Oklahoma) Special Events November 9th: TigerStyle Invite (Columbia, Missouri) December 5/6th: Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Las Vegas, Nevada) December 21st: Norman Duals (Duke, SIU Edwardsville, Long Island) Number of Top 20 teams from the 2025 NCAA Championships: #1 Penn State, #3 Oklahoma State, #9 Northern Iowa, #14 Missouri, #18(t) Arizona State, #18(t) West Virginia This is quite the schedule for Oklahoma. There’s no easing into this one as they go to Missouri’s TigerStyle Invite to start the season. It’s not a huge event, but it has more quality than quantity in terms of wrestlers and teams. I’ve seen word that, in addition to the hosts, Little Rock, Maryland, Purdue, and South Dakota State are expected to compete. Just a week later, Oklahoma takes on the four-time defending champion Penn State Nittany Lions…on the road. At this point, we’re not exactly sure how the 133/141 slots will materialize for PSU; however, it’s a safe bet that all ten Sooner wrestlers will be tested. I love to see new matchups and duals we generally don’t see very often. A clash with Penn State definitely fits the bill. The Sooners are the rare team that will face Penn State coming off a win against the Nittany Lions. The last time these two teams squared off was at the 2010 Virginia Duals, a contest won by OU, 22-15. Oklahoma has actually won its last two against Penn State, though the VA Duals match was the only one during the Cael Sanderson era. Another very notable new wrinkle on Oklahoma’s schedule is an appearance at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. They haven’t been to this tournament in a few years (2021), so it’s another place to see some fresh opposition. The tournament is littered with some of the top Big Ten schools (Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State), so it’s one that can significantly help or hurt from a rankings standpoint - but is helpful either way in developing young talent. Overall, I like that the OU staff has really turned up the scheduling intensity. They could have a lineup that features a handful of starters from their #3 ranked Class of 2024. Let’s see what the young guys are made of! Speaking of the Big Ten, there are first-semester duals with Indiana and Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are a perennial top 20 team, while Indiana might be pushing for that status. Both will be very competitive, yet winnable for this OU team. As always, one of the key dates on the Oklahoma schedule is the Bedlam Dual with Oklahoma State. This one takes place on January 11th in Stillwater. Kish’s staff likely has a bad taste in their mouth after last year’s meeting. David Taylor’s team rolled to a 35-3 win on the Sooners' home mat. A couple of weeks later, they have a tough home weekend that sees visits from Northern Iowa and Iowa State. The Cyclones had a down year in 2024-25, but have reloaded and will be a huge challenge. UNI has lost a couple of big guns, but will bring the fight as we’ve been accustomed to seeing from a Doug Schwab team. Once again, the Big 12 Championships will be close to home, in Tulsa, so the Sooner fans won’t have to go far to cheer on their squad in the postseason. Notable Potential Matchups for Oklahoma’s Stars Beric Jordan (125) November 14th: Luke Lilledahl (Penn State) November 23rd: Jacob Moran (Indiana) January 11th: Troy Spratley (Oklahoma State) January 18th: Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) January 30th: Stevo Poulin (Iowa State) January 31st: Trever Anderson (Northern Iowa) Alex Braun (141) November 14th: (Penn State?) November 15th: Dylan Chappell (Bucknell) November 23rd: Henry Porter (Indiana) December 13th: Joey Oliveiri (Rutgers) January 11th: Cael Hughes (Oklahoma State) January 18th: Jordan Titus (West Virginia) January 30th: Anthony Echemendia (Iowa State) February 8th: Emilio Ysaguirre (Arizona State) February 15th: Cole Brooks (Wyoming) Rafael Hipolito (157) November 14th: Tyler Kasak (Penn State) December 13th: Conner Harer (Rutgers) January 11th: Teague Travis (Oklahoma State) January 18th: Ty Watters (West Virginia) January 30th: Vince Zerban (Iowa State) February 8th: Kaleb Larkin (Arizona State) February 12th: J Conway (Missouri) February 15th: Jared Hill (Wyoming) Peyten Kellar (165) November 14th: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) November 15th: Noah Mulvaney (Bucknell) November 23rd: Tyler Lillard (Indiana) December 21st: Aiden Wallace (Duke) January 11th: Ladarion Lockett? (Oklahoma State) January 30th: Aiden Riggins (Iowa State) January 31st: Ryder Downey (Northern Iowa) February 8th: Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) February 12th: Maxx Mayfield (Missouri) Brian Soldano (184) November 14th: Rocco Welsh (Penn State) November 23rd: Sam Goin (Indiana) December 13th: Shane Cartagena-Walsh (Rutgers) January 11th: Zack Ryder (Oklahoma State) January 18th: Ian Bush (West Virginia) January 30th: Isaac Dean (Iowa State) February 12th: Aeoden Sinclair (Missouri) February 15th: Eddie Neitenbach (Wyoming) DJ Parker (197) November 14th: Josh Barr (Penn State) November 15th: Dillon Bechtold (Bucknell) November 23rd: Gabe Sollars (Indiana) December 13th: Remy Cotton (Rutgers) December 14th: Brock Zurawski (Rider) January 11th: Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) January 18th: Rune Lawrence (West Virginia) January 30th: Rocky Elam (Iowa State) February 12th: Evan Bates (Missouri) February 15th: Joey Novak (Wyoming) There are lots of fun potential matches we could see this year involving Oklahoma wrestlers. One I’m particularly focused on is Beric Jordan at 125 lbs. Jordan was the highest-ranked wrestler (#16) in their special Class of 2024. In his first year as a starter, Jordan will get tested early and often. Oklahoma has duals that should see him face three returning All-Americans (Spratley/2nd, Lilledhal/3rd, and Poulin/8th), plus the returning Big 12 champion (Strickenberger). The CKLV could feature the returning national champion (Robinson) along with another All-American and ACC champion (Ventresca). Another Sooner I’m paying close attention to is Peyten Kellar (potentially at 165 lbs). If that’s the case, he could have a very healthy set of potential opponents. The reason I’m looking at Kellar is because he’s transferring in from Ohio. The Big 12 schedule, plus OU’s other challenging events, is a sharp uptick from the MAC slate. Can Kellar handle top 15 or top 20 competition every time out?