On Friday night, at a sold-out Palace on the Prairie, all the preseason talk changes over to actual game action as No. 10 Oklahoma hosts UTEP to kick off the new season.
Friday night home games are extremely rare for Oklahoma. The opener against UTEP marks just the second time in Sooner football history that Oklahoma has played a regular-season game at home under the lights on a Friday. The other time was two seasons ago, when the Sooners defeated Temple 51-3 in the season opener.
The Sooners are 102-23-6 all-time in season-opening games, including each of their last nine and 15 of the last 16. Oklahoma has won 20 consecutive home openers. The last time OU lost at home to start the season was in 2005, a 17-10 loss to TCU.
This will be the sixth meeting all-time between Oklahoma and UTEP in a series that began in 2000. The Sooners have prevailed in all five previous encounters by an average margin of 42 points. OU is a 41.5-point favorite on Friday night, according to FanDuel. Five of the six games have been played in Norman.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
UTEP has had one winning season in the last 12, all as members of Conference USA, and is 5-19 the past two seasons under head coach Scotty Walden. The Miners' lone winning season during that stretch was in 2021, when they finished 7-6.
This is the second time in three seasons that the Miners have opened the season on the road against a Power Four opponent. They played at Nebraska in 2024. Ironically, the week after Oklahoma plays at Michigan this season, UTEP will make the same journey to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines Week 3.
How to watch Oklahoma vs. UTEP
When: 7 p.m. CT Friday
Watch: SECN+ or ESPN+
Announcers: Ted Emrich, Fozzy Whittaker and Maria Martin
What to know about UTEP
- This is UTEP's first season as a member of the Mountain West Conference. The Miners spent the last 21 seasons in Conference USA, where they finished 2-10 overall and 1-7 in the conference in their final season in 2025. Prior to joining Conference USA, UTEP was a longtime member of the Western Athletic Conference.
- Junior EJ Colson Jr., a transfer from Incarnate Word, will start at quarterback against Oklahoma. Colson was a 2025 All-Southland Conference selection at UIW, completing 70% of his passes for 2,142 yards and 16 touchdowns.
- As bad as Oklahoma's offense was in 2025 (ranked 91st nationally in offensive yards per game), UTEP's was even worse, and against competition far inferior to what the Sooners faced. The Miners ranked 117th in rushing, 81st in passing and 112th in total offense in 2025.
- UTEP led Conference USA in 2024 with 87 tackles for loss and was second last season with 86. That ranked 27th among FBS teams in 2024 and 19th in 2025. Oklahoma led the nation in that statistical category last season.
What to know about Oklahoma
- Oklahoma had been relatively healthy through most of fall training camp, but over the past week, injuries to some key personnel have started to crop up ahead of the season opener against UTEP. Starting center Jake Maikkula suffered a knee injury early in fall training camp, and last season's starting right tackle and right guard Ryan Fodje, who was set to step in for Maikkula, left practice this week with an injured knee. Both were back at practice on Tuesday but will be held out of the season opener with UTEP out of precaution. Additionally, starting wide receiver Parker Livingstone's status for Saturday is also uncertain. It was reported on Tuesday that the transfer from Texas is in concussion protocol.
- The Sooner offense is expected to look different this season, and in a good way. QB John Mateer is back and fully healthy after leading Oklahoma to a 10-win season a year ago and a College Football Playoff appearance despite playing half the season with a recovering fractured thumb on his throwing hand.
- Oklahoma has surrounded its senior QB with additional offensive weapons, such as running backs Lloyd Avant and freshman Jonathan Hatton, tight end transfers Hayden Hansen and Rocky Beers, and wide receivers Livingstone and Trell Harris, an All-ACC selection from Virginia. Sooner fans are anxious to see all of these newcomers in action and an improvement in OU's uncharacteristically low offensive numbers from last season (112th in rushing offense, 57th in passing, 79th in scoring).
- An Oklahoma offense that functions at a higher level is priority No. 1 heading into the 2026 season. The offensive unit can't help but being well-prepared for what it will face in the regular season having to practice every day against what arguably could be the best defense in college football this season. Last season, Oklahoma ranked third nationally in rushing defense, sixth in total defense and seventh in scoring defense, and the 2026 group should not lose a beat. In fact, many believe it will be even better this season.
Key stat
Oklahoma led the nation last season in both sacks (3.5 per game) and tackles for loss ( 9.4 per game). The Sooner defensive front may be even stronger this season, and they will be going against a UTEP offensive line that last season ranked 81st nationally in sacks allowed and 108th in tackles for loss allowed) and, notably, against competition not of the same quality as Oklahoma.
Prediction for OU vs. UTEP
This should be a good tune-up and opportunity to work out some of the kinks and first-game jitters from a long offseason before the competition ramps up considerably with the huge road test at Michigan in Week 2. A win against UTEP is all but assured, but how it comes about and who the standout performers are is what fans will be looking for most from this game. The game plan should be fairly vanilla, with the Oklahoma coaches not wanting to reveal too much ahead the big games straight ahead in the early going against Michigan, Georgia and Texas.
Oklahoma 48, UTEP 6
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