Oklahoma football is busy getting ready for the 2023 college football season, but on Friday OU announced its 2024 nonconference schedule when it plays its inaugural season as a new member of the Southeastern Conference.
The Sooners filled out the 2024 nonconference schedule adding Houston and Maine to the slate. Those two teams will join Temple and Tulane, which had already been locked in on the schedule. Temple and Tulane are both members of the American Athletic Conference.
OU will open the 2024 season at home at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium taking on Temple on Aug. 31.
The Sooners were originally scheduled to play Georgia in 2024 in the first of a home-and-home series. Football schedules, especially in the case of nonconference opponents, are scheduled out years in advance, and the game with Georgia was negotiated before it became known that the Sooners were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.
When it became official that the Sooners would be joining the SEC, the 2024 date with Georgia had to be scrapped and replaced with another nonconference opponent.
As a member of the Big 12, Oklahoma scheduled only three nonconference games to go with a nine-team conference schedule. The SEC plays an 8-game conference schedule, which allows for four nonconference opponents.
After Temple visits the Palace on the Prairie, Houston, now a member of the Big 12 Conference, comes calling on Sept. 7. That is scheduled as part of a home-and-home series with Oklahoma playing at Houston in 2028.
Temple comes to OU on Sept. 14, and the Sooners will finish the 2024 nonconference slate on Sept. 21 at home against Maine, a school OU has never played in its history.
Oklahoma’s 2024 SEC schedule includes home games with Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina and road games at Auburn, LSU, Missouri and Ole Miss.
The Sooners are 3-1 all-time against Houston, the one loss coming in 2016 to open the season. The game was played at NRG Stadium in Houston, with the Cougars winning 33-23 over No. 3-ranked Oklahoma.
The 2024 game with Tulane will be the third all-time meeting between the two teams in football. OU is 2-0 in the previous games, the most recent being to open the season in 2021. It was a surprisingly close game with the Sooners ultimately prevailing 40-35.