Oklahoma football goes on the road but stays within the state this weekend, taking on Tulsa at Chapman Stadium on Saturday in the Sooners’ final tune-up before beginning Big 12 play.
The Sooners are 28.5-point favorites in the game, according to the line established by Las Vegas oddsmakers as of Thursday this week. The two in-state rivals have played 28 times with Oklahoma holding a 20-7-1 record. Oklahoma is 7-3 when the Sooners play in Tulsa, but the Sooners have not lost there in four games since 1942.
Brent Venables welcomed 65 new players to the roster for the 2023 season. Twenty-one of those newcomers are transfers from other schools, the highest number of transfers that the Sooners have added in any one season.
Relatively speaking, this is a very young Oklahoma team. Ninety-nine of the 125 players on the Sooner roster for this season are first- or second-year Sooners. Only 26 of the 116 players who were on the roster in Lincoln Riley’s final season in 2021 are on the roster today.
Both Oklahoma and Tulsa, separated by 123 road miles, have been playing football since 1895. They may have started playing football the same year, but the Sooners have accumulated nearly 300 more wins than the Golden Hurricane in 128 seasons.
How the two teams compare statistically through two games in 2023
(National ranking in parentheses)
                                     OU                     Tulsa
Scoring offense                   50.5 (6th)               26.0 (88th)
Scoring defense                    5.5 (6th)               25.0 (78th)
Rushing offense                 204.5 (32nd)           214.0 (26th)
Rushing defense                  82.5 (28th)            105.5 (50th)
Passing offense                 299.0 (29th)            203.5 (94th)
Passing defense                 205.0 (28th)            302.0 (117th)
Total offense                    503.5 (16th)            417.5 (56th)
Total defense                   287.5 (35th)            407.5 (104th)
Turnover margin                  +3 (13th)               -1 (86th)
3rd down offense                64% (3rd)               46.2% (50th)
3rd down defense               22.2% (8th)              43.5% (89th)
Red zone offense                92% (38th)              85.7% (61st)
Red zone defense               100% (93rd)              87.5% (79th)