Oklahoma football: Kickoff times announced for four 2019 games

Kickoff times are now set for the three nonconference games on the 2019 Oklahoma football schedule, as well the annual Red River Showdown with Texas.

The season-opener with Houston, originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, Aug. 1, has been moved to Sunday night, Sept. 1, with a national TV audience. The game will be played in Norman and broadcast by ABC, beginning at 6:30 CT. This will be only the fourth time in history that the Sooners have played on Sunday. The three previous Sunday appearances were all bowl games.

The Houston game is the follow-on to the 2016 season opener that served as Part I of the home-and-home series agreement with UH. Houston upset the No. 3-ranked Sooners 33-23 in the earlier meeting played at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Cougars are now coached by former West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen, who was 0-7 against OU while at WVU.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

The Sooners will be home at Gaylord Family–Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on the second weekend of the season, as well. The opponent in Week 2 will be South Dakota, out of the Missouri Valley Conference. This will also be a night game, with the kickoff scheduled for 6:00 CT. Television information has not yet been finalized.

This will be the first meeting ever between OU and South Dakota. The Coyotes were 4-7 last season and 3-5 in conference play.

Oklahoma’s third and final nonconference game this fall will be a road contest at UCLA. The Sooners defeated the Bruins and new head coach Chip Kelly 49-21 last season in Norman.

The Sooners and Bruins have played each other only five times previously. Oklahoma has won four of the five. The one Sooners loss was in 2005, 41-24, the last time the two teams played in Los Angeles.

As it has been in most seasons over the past decade, the OU-Texas game, one of college football’s biggest and longest rivalries, will kickoff at 11 a.m. on Oct. 12 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Both teams should be nationally ranked at the time they play this fall, and their are a number of college football experts who project the Sooners and Longhorns as the two best teams entering the 2019 Big 12 season.

Both the UCLA and Texas games will be televised by FOX.