The Sooners Are Bringing Half a Football Team

Evening Edition — filed after the afternoon news cycle.

GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Oklahoma's defense travels beautifully; whether the offense makes the trip to Athens is an open question.

ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk

Oklahoma is coming to Athens on Saturday with half a football team, and I mean that as a compliment to the half that showed up. CBS Sports says the Sooner defense is allowing 7.7 points a game, which is stingy in any language you care to speak. The other half is the problem. The run game averages 110.3 yards, which ranks 123rd in the country, and quarterback John Mateer just threw two interceptions against New Mexico. A 2-1 record with a defense like that tells you the offense has been eating its share of the groceries and cooking none of them.

Kirby Smart, naturally, is having none of that arithmetic. He told reporters the Oklahoma defense is fundamentally sound, aggressive and attacking, and DawgNation says his offensive linemen already know they will be under the microscope Saturday. As for Mateer, Sports Illustrated quoted Smart saying the quarterback's athleticism pops out at you — hard to tackle, a factor in the run game inside and outside. When a coach spends a Monday praising the other fellow's legs that thoroughly, you may assume somebody in Athens is drawing up ways to take them away.

Oklahoma is coming to Athens with half a football team, and I mean that as a compliment to the half that showed up.

The infirmary report, for once, read like good news. Smart opened Oklahoma week saying running back Nate Frazier is day-to-day but expected to play Saturday, and that wide receiver Isiah Canion could have gone against Arkansas if they had needed him. Chase Linton, Tyriq Green and Marcus Harrison, the coach said, will all be back soon. That is the entire list delivered with a straight face and no bad news attached, which in the month of September qualifies as a minor miracle.

The university has meanwhile declared Saturday's 3:30 kickoff a Stripe Sanford game, with fans asked to wear red or black by section for the first SEC home date of the year. The occasion comes fully catered, too. The 247Sports beat writers report it is one of Georgia's biggest recruiting weekends of the season, with a loaded visitor list, emerging flip targets, and roughly ten prospects being chased by both programs at once. Nothing says welcome to Athens quite like a stadium in coordinated stripes while the hosts try to hire away your future.

One housekeeping note before the visitors arrive. The 45-17 win at Arkansas made it 51 consecutive victories over unranked opponents, with Georgia now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the league. Oklahoma comes in ranked No. 24, so the streak is safe no matter what happens Saturday. This is also the first time the Sooners have ever played in Athens, and they had the good manners to show up ranked for it. Half a football team, then — but a polite one.

The Notebook

• KIFFIN'S HOMECOMING WENT POORLY: Lane Kiffin took LSU back to Oxford and lost to his old team, 32 to 24, with Trinidad Chambliss scoring the go-ahead touchdown from 14 yards out with 6:14 left. The most talked-about game of the weekend, and Oxford talked loudest.
• 1952 CALLED: Kentucky went into College Station, forced four turnovers, and beat Texas A&M 31 to 21 — the Wildcats' first win over the Aggies since 1952. That is what the desk calls waiting your turn.
• THE SLATE: Notre Dame at the Boilermaker Welders, Saturday at 2, the Irish favored by 27 and a half — the desk calls it a lock. The honest game is the Webfoot Ducks at the Trojan Horsemen, Ducks by 3, a coin flip either way.

Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.

Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.