Oklahoma football: Most pivotal, biggest game on Sooners’ 2020 schedule

The biggest game that fans and players might circle on the 2020 Oklahoma football schedule is not necessarily the one that is most pivotal to the team’s goals for the season.

The biggest game practically every season for the Sooners is the annual Red River Showdown with archrival Texas, although this season that game will be played — if it is played — under very different conditions because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is a big deal whenever Oklahoma and Texas matchup in any athletic competition, but especially so on the gridiron. The OU-Texas game has been played at the Cotton Bowl on the fairgrounds and during the State Fair of Texas since 1932. This year, however, the Texas State Fair has been cancelled out of health and safety concerns over such a large gathering and COVID-19 exposure.

The football game in the Cotton Bowl is still on, for now, but probably will be without fans — or for sure far fewer than the 92,000 that typically pack the stadium the second weekend of every October. There is even some consideration being given to moving the venue somewhere else in the Dallas area, or possibly to one of the campus sites.

More from OU Football

• Oklahoma football: ESPN, USA Today bowl projections after Week 3
• Oklahoma football: Sooner ‘D’ grading well, but real test begins with Big 12 play
• Two Oklahoma football players receive Big 12 weekly honors
• Oklahoma football: Sooners’ stock rising fast in ESPN prospective rankings
• Oklahoma football: Sooners leaving opponents in the dust early and often

The last time an OU-Texas football game was played outside of Dallas was in 1922 (Norman) and 1923 (Austin).

In many of the 24 years the Big 12 has been in existence, the annual game between the Sooners and the Longhorns has served as a de facto conference championship, or at least determined one of the two teams that would play in the conference championship game. Sixteen times since 1996 (13 by Oklahoma and three by Texas), one of those two teams took home the Big 12 championship trophy.

Some would argue there is no or too little difference to distinguish between the term biggest game and what you would call the most pivotal game. I would argue that in OU’s case there is a distinction. While it will always be true to call Texas a huge game, if only for the tradition and what’s generally at stake — and not just the bragging rights — it is not a game in which the Sooners are always expected to win and in which an upset loss could seriously jeopardize their conference championship, if not their national title hopes.

The Texas game is always big, but the TCU game in 2020 could be pivotal.

Looking ahead to the 2020 schedule of games as they currently exist, the TCU game on Oct. 31 in Fort Worth stands out as the scariest, and not just because it is scheduled to be played on Halloween.

Iowa State on Oct. 17, the week following the Texas game could also be considered a pivotal game, mainly because it is at Iowa State. But the Sooners have played extremely well on the road in recent years, having won 24 of their last 25 true road games, and they are 20-1 following the Texas game since 1999.

Gary Patterson’s TCU squad is due for a comeback year after a very disappointing 2019 season. The Horned Frogs were just 5-7 overall and 3-6 in the conference, but played Oklahoma very tough last season, losing by just four points, 28-24, in Norman. That’s been more the rule than the exception in the eight seasons TCU has been a member of the Big 12.

Oklahoma is 8-1 against the Horned Frogs in Big 12 play, but five of the nine games have been decided by seven or fewer points. The one loss, by the way, was at TCU in 2014.

The TCU game follows an Oklahoma home game against in-state rival Oklahoma State. Although not as big a rivalry as Texas is, it is still a rivalry game, and emotions and energy run high on both sides. TCU is the first of back-to-back road games for the Sooners. The week after going to TCU, OU hits the road for West Virginia.

That puts the TCU game on Oct. 31 in perfect position as a trap game, particularly if the Sooners are 7-0 at that point (or 4-0 if it is a conference-only schedule). And the way these two teams have battled each other over the years, a close game on the road might not work in Oklahoma’s favor.

We’re still a long way from the end of October, however. Much could change between now and then with all the uncertainty still surrounding the COVID-19 situation, but this does provide Sooner fans something to think about.