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Oklahoma football: Sooners to face No. 14 Arizona in Alamo Bowl

By Chip Rouse

Dec 29, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; A general overall view of the Alamo Bowl logo at midfield before the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oklahoma Sooners at Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 29, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; A general overall view of the Alamo Bowl logo at midfield before the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oklahoma Sooners at Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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What has been projected for a number of weeks became reality on Sunday as postseason bowl matchups were announced on Selection Sunday. Oklahoma football Team 129 will face Arizona in the 31st annual Alamo Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 28 in San Antonio, Texas.

The game will be played in the Alamodome and televised by ESPN at 9:15 p.m. CT

The 12th-ranked Sooners (10-2) just missed out on a New Year’s Six bowl, which was a possibility heading into Selection Sunday, but OU needed to jump over either No. 11 Ole Miss or No. 10 Penn State in the final College Football Playoff rankings to make that a real possibility. That did not happen, so Oklahoma ended up receiving the Big 12’s second best bowl placement, which this year is the Alamo Bowl.

Oklahoma will be making its 57th postseason bowl appearance and program record 25th consecutive bowl game. The Sooners have appeared once before in the Alamo Bowl. No. 14 OU defeated No. 15 Oregon 47-32 under interim head coach Bob Stoops. This will also be Arizona’s second Alamo Bowl appearance. The Wildcats lost 36-10 to No. 16 Oklahoma State in 2010.

Arizona has followed a similar path to Oklahoma in turning around its 2023 season. The Wildcats were 5-7 a year ago before going 9-3 and finishing third this season in the Pac-12 in what many experts believe to be the strongest football conference this season. Arizona began the season 3-3 but then reeled off six straight wins, including victories over four conference teams that were ranked at the time the game was played. Jedd Fisch is in his third season as Arizona head coach and has a 15-21 record in Tucson.

The Alamo Bowl matchup will feature two of the nation’s top offensive units. Oklahoma ranks third among the 131 FBS teams in scoring offense (43.2 points per game) and fifth in total offense (502.4 yards per game). Meanwhile, Arizona is 25th nationally in scoring offense (34.3 points per game) and 18th in total offense (453.4 yards per game).

Oklahoma and Arizona have met twice before on the gridiron, splitting the two games. No. 6 Oklahoma won 28-10 in 1988 in Norman in Barry Switzer’s final of 16 seasons as head coach. The very next season, Gary Gibbs first as the Sooners’ head coach, Arizona prevailed on its home turf 6-3 over No. 4-ranked OU.

Seth Littrell, newly named OU co-offensive coordinator, offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and running backs coach DeMarco Murray all have spent time on the Arizona coaching staff. Littrell was an assistant and co-offensive coordinator under Mike Stoops at Arizona from 2009-11. Bedenbaugh was offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator there from 2007-10, and Murray was running backs coach at Arizona in 2019 before joining the OU staff the following season.

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