The Palace on the Prairie will for sure be under the lights at least once during the 2026 college football season since ESPN believes the Oklahoma Sooners are worthy of primetime no matter who they are playing.
Multiple nonconference kickoff times were announced throughout college football on Wednesday, including the Sooners' Week 3 home matchup against the New Mexico Lobos. OU and New Mexico will play at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday, Sept. 19, at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for what is looking to be the Sooners' first night game of the season. The game will be on ESPN2, compared to being relegated to SEC Network because of the lackluster opponent, or even ESPN+ if OU was still stuck in the Big 12. A brand like OU, though, gets the ESPN respect.
Sooners will play New Mexico in primetime after Big Noon Kickoff disappointment
ESPN might also know not to doubt a dangerous New Mexico team. The Lobos went 9-4 last season, which included a 34-17 loss to Michigan Week 1. They then finished the season with a 20-17 overtime loss to Minnesota in the Rate Bowl. An energized night crowd at Memorial Stadium will be overwhelming for the Lobos out of the Mountain West, but that matchup is still better than the cupcakes most Power Four teams play that week.
Every SEC team was handed a nonconference game that will be on SEC Network or SECN+, and for the Sooners, their season opener against UTEP on Saturday, Sept. 5, will be on SECN+. Although the streaming destination was already announced, a kickoff time for that game still hasn't been determined.
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The Sooners also already knew they got the dreaded Big Noon Kickoff slot of FOX when they play Michigan on Sept. 12 in Ann Arbor. When the two blue bloods met last year in Norman, the game was in primetime on ABC and had ESPN College GameDay on campus.
This time, though, the Sooners were brought down by the Big Ten's bad decisions, so the big-time clash got the TV slot all of college football has come to despise. However, that could actually play in the Sooners' favor as they deal with an early-morning crowd at the Big House instead of a more ruckus nighttime atmosphere. Meanwhile, when the Big Ten isn't involved, the Sooners get matchups against the likes of New Mexico in primetime on an ESPN channel.
Home games at night are what really matter, though, and that's what the Sooners get Week 2 against New Mexico. There's still a solid chance that season opener against UTEP is also a late kick since it's on SECN+.
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