OU Football Sets Future Three-Game Series With Tulane

The athletic department at Oklahoma has been busy in recent years lining up competitive nonconference opponents to complement the always tough conference schedule for OU football.

The Sooners recently added a three-game future series with the Tulane Green Wave of the American Athletic Conference. According to the OU athletic department, the Sooners will begin their football series with the Green Wave in the 2017 season with a game on Sept. 16 that year at Gaylord Family-OU Memorial Stadium.

The two teams will not play the second game in the series until 2021, when the venue will switch to Tulane’s Yulman Stadium. The series will return to Norman in the 2024 season.

Nov 22, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Samaje Perine (32) runs during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione cites a couple of reasons why scheduling Tulane as a football opponent can be beneficial for the Sooners. It provides an opportunity to play a game in an area of Louisiana where we recruit and where a sizeable population of Oklahoma graduates reside, according to the Sooners’ AD. New Orleans is also the location of the Sugar Bowl, where the Big 12 champion will play in the postseason under an agreement signed last year between the Big 12 and the SEC.

In case you’re curious, Oklahoma is 5-2 all-time in its Sugar Bowl appearances.

The agreement with Tulane is the most recent football series Oklahoma has added to future seasons in an concerted effort to strengthen the nonconference portion of the Sooners’ football schedule. In addition to the nine conference games each Big 12 team plays every season, three games with nonconference opponents complete the schedule.

The Sooners have future scheduling agreements already set with several high-profile opponents from one of the five power conferences, going all the way out to 2028.

OU will play a two-game, home-and-home series with reigning national champion Ohio State, beginning in 2016; UCLA (2018 and 2019); Michigan (2025 and 2026), and LSU (2027 and 2028).

In 2021 and 2022), the Crimson and Cream will renew its longtime rivalry with former conference foe Nebraska, now a member of the Big Ten. The Sooners and Huskers will play in Norman in 2021 and at Nebraska the following season.

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The Sooners also have future football dates scheduled with Houston in 2016 and 2019 and with Army in 2018 and 2020.

OU completes its two-game series with Tennessee this coming season, visiting the Volunteers’ at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville on the second weekend of the 2015 season.