After losing a home game to an up-and-coming team and nearly tanking all hopes for the playoffs, the Sooners rattled off four wins to make the bracket last year.

Now, they are looking to do it again — but with six wins.

Oklahoma football is still in the hunt of all of its goals even with three losses after the past few weeks of wild upsets and extreme parity in college football and specifically the Southeastern Conference.

Saturday, when the Sooners take on South Carolina inside Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at 3:15 p.m., they will look to break an odd nine-game streak of alternating results and extend their hopes for an outside-shot at the College Football Playoff.

Although a different team, the Sooners did it a year ago and have momentum to make a bid to do it again.

The Sooners lost two-of-three games against Texas and Ole Miss last year, almost tanking their season. However, they won four-straight games, including two road games at Tennessee and Alabama, to make the playoff.

OU coach Brent Venables has always said not much rolls over year-to-year, however experience does and the Sooners have experience of season-saving win streaks.

“Yeah, I think doing it a year ago, getting on a winning streak and a hot streak and playing our best football in the back half of the season lends credibility to promoting and nurturing that now,” Venables said Tuesday. “And you talk every single week about improving incrementally. The best teams—that’s what they do.

“They recognize how challenging it’s going to be, but just try to go 1-0 each and every week here in front of us. But last year’s success certainly is a template for our guys, and they know there’s a pathway to doing so.”

The Sooners are sitting at 4-3 on the season with losses at once-ranked Michigan and No. 3 Georgia while also losing at home two weeks ago to No. 9 Kentucky.

However, they also have a signature win with the 27-24 win over then-No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and a win over one of the best Group-of-Six teams in New Mexico.

The three losses have tanked their odds to make the playoff to +1100, which is the 31st-best odds to make this season’s CFP. Though the Sooners seemed to be down and out last year after losing to the Rebels at home, but they turned it around and won four-straight.

This is a taller task with longer odds in 2026, however the shortcomings and successes the Sooners have been through this season could prove to be a big help in winning six-straight.

“Even through some failure along the way, you still make incremental improvement by blocking out the noise and focusing on ourselves and things that we can control,” Venables said. “I do think that it gives the players some extra motivation, if you will, when it comes to the work and just going right back at it again.

“We’ve had opportunities to win each and every game, other than the Georgia game, once it got out of hand. And so I do think our guys have confidence in the opportunity.”

The Sooners had their most-complete game this season in their 23-15 win over Mississippi State last week. The offense found sustained success while the defense dominated for a majority of the game.

However, displayed by their win-loss streak, the success, or failure, of a week is hard to carry over each week. The Sooners have alternated wins and losses for nine games dating back to last season, a trend that’s certainly not wanted.

That shows the toughness of the SEC and that the new era of college football is truly full of parity, something the Sooners are still adapting to.

“I do think it’s harder than it’s ever been,” Venables said. “You’re going to see more teams be inconsistent because of distractions and the space we’re in. At the end of the day, good players are everywhere… You’re seeing the depth issue become real, and nobody is immune to it. That’ll be the new modern age of college football, and navigating it will take some pivoting moving forward.”

There is a chance for the Sooners to run the table thanks to the unstable Southeastern Conference. It’s the first time in a long time that the SEC has no undefeated teams before Halloween, which opens the door for OU.

Georgia lost to Auburn at home. Texas lost to unranked Florida at home. Alabama lost two-straight. The true representation of the unstableness is that Kentucky leads the SEC.

There are eight two-loss SEC teams at this point in the season. That number will dwindle as the season goes along, but the Sooners have a chance to stay in the race, starting with this week when the second-hottest team in the conference, South Carolina, visits Norman.

The Gamecocks have beat No. 10 Florida and No. 11 Tennessee their past two games, spelling danger for the Sooners this weekend.

The talent disparity in the SEC is the closest it’s ever been, which OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said means that anyone can beat anyone in this conference, which gives the Sooners hope moving forward.

“The guys know that it is really week-to-week,” Arbuckle said. “You have to be at your best every single week. And in this league, the coaches on the other side of the ball, they’re too good. The players, the talent on the other side of the ball, they’re too good for you to sit there and say, ‘OK, boys, we got an easy one.’ That doesn’t exist, and it’s a credit to this league and what it has been built upon but also how it’s adapted to what college turned into.”

Source: Yahoo Sports