Oklahoma Football Not Shy About Scheduling Prime-Time Nonconference Foes
By Chip Rouse
In the nearly two decades that Bob Stoops has been at the helm of Oklahoma football, the Sooners’ nonconference schedule has usually included at least one opponent from one of the Power Five conferences.
While some head coaches in the Big 12 and other conferences have had the philosophy that playing so-called soft schedules to begin the season not only get you halfway to becoming bowl eligible, but also helps build confidence and momentum heading into the much tougher conference schedule.
That has never been Stoops’ approach. And that is why, when the Big 12 is considered one of the strongest football conferences in the country, Oklahoma’s strength of schedule is typically one of the toughest in the country because of the level of competition the Sooners are willing to schedule in the nonconference portion of the season.
In recent years, the Sooners have played home-and-home, two-game series with the likes of national power brands Notre Dame and Florida State, and next season they will complete a two-game scheduling agreement with Ohio State, which is expected to begin the 2017 season in the nation’s top five teams.
On Monday, Oklahoma announced another two-game series with Tennessee to be played in 2020 and 2024. The 2020 game will be played at Oklahoma, and in 2024, the Sooners will go to Knoxville to play the Volunteers. Those same two schools met in 2014 and 2015.
The then-No.4-ranked Sooners won handily in Norman, 34-10, but had to come from 17 points behind in the fourth quarter for a dramatic win in overtime at Tennessee a year later. When the two teams played at Tennessee in 2015, OU was ranked 19th in the Associated Press media poll and the Volunteers were No. 23.
“The Tennessee series renews our commitment to schedule marquee nonconference games,” said OU athletic director Joe Castiglione in announcing the agreement to play another future two-game series with the Volunteers.
That commitment includes dates scheduled with other football powerhouses In future years. Oklahoma has nonconference games scheduled with UCLA (2018 and 2019), Nebraska (2021 and 2022, and again in 2029-30), Michigan (2025-26) and a future two-game series with LSU is in the works.
The Sooners’ strength of schedule in football should not be in question should Oklahoma be in contention for the College Football Playoff over the next decade, but winning those games will be an entirely different matter.