This is different Oklahoma team that kicks off 2024 season against Temple

The countdown has finally reached Week 1 of the new college football season, and on Friday night at the Palace on the Prairie, Oklahoma will take the field for its 2024 season opener against Temple as a member of the SEC.

The Sooners will open the new season, its 130th in program history against a Temple Owl team that has gone 3-9 in each of the last three seasons and is picked to finish last this season in the American Athletic Conference. These are the kind of games, though, that the Sooners absolutely cannot afford to lose given the overall difficulty of their conference schedule.

This will be the third meeting ever between these two schools, but both of those games were played back in the early 1940s. The two teams split the two games, with each winning on its home turf.

Temple is one of two AAC teams the Sooners will face as part of the nonconference schedule this season. Tulane comes to Norman on Sept. 14.

This is the 100th season for Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and Friday's game will be the 1,339th in OU football history. The Sooners' all-time record (944-341-53) and .725 win percentage ranks fifth in college football. Oklahoma enters the 2024 season as the nation leader with 50 all-time conference championships, 27 11-win seasons and 33 top-five finishes in the Associated Press poll era.

Although the Sooners have played 81 games on a Friday, the night game at home this Friday night will be the first of its kind in OU history.

Oklahoma is 100-23-6 all-time in season openers and has registered a win in 13 of the last 14 season-opening contests. The one loss during that span was a 33-23 defeat at Houston in 2016.

The Sooners have added 55 newcomers to the 2024 roster (40 on scholarship. Players in their first year at OU account for 43 percent of the roster. Eleven returning OU players (seven on defense and four on offense) started at least six games for the Sooners a year ago.

Oklahoma's 1974 and '75 national championship teams, coached by Barry Switzer, will be honored during the game. This marks the 50th anniversary for the '74 OU national champions, the first of three won during the Switzer head-coaching era (1973-88).

Friday night's season opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. CT kickoff and will be televised on ESPN with Anish Shroff doing play-by-play and former Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware providing commentary. Paul Carcaterra will be reporting on the sidelines.

What fans need to know about Temple

• Temple head coach Stan Drayton is in his third season with the Owls. He was an assistant coach at Texas from 2017 to 2021. While there, the Longhorns faced Oklahoma six times. The Sooners were 5-1 in those games, including a win in the 2018 Big 12 Championship game.

• The Owls lost starting quarterback E.J. Warner, the American Athletic Conference passing leader a year ago, to the transfer portal after last season. Whoever wins the QB battle between returner Forrest Brock and Rutgers transfer Evan Simon will be starting for the first time in the Temple offense.

• Similar to Oklahoma, there are concerns with the Temple offensive line. Last season Temple started a different O-line combination in all 12 of the Owls games. Temple averaged just 97 yards per game on the ground a year ago behind that unsettled offensive line. A key player to watch for when Temple is on offense is wide receiver Dante Wright, who caught 39 passes last season for 507 yards and four touchdowns.

• The Temple defense ranked 124th among the 130 FBS teams last season. While it should be a little better this season, it's going to have a lot of difficulty trying to contain the explosive Oklahoma offense that features a deep arsenal of ground and aerial weapons.

What fans need to know about Oklahoma

• Jackson Arnold is making his second career start for Oklahoma. Although he threw for 361 yards and a couple of touchdowns in a loss to Arizona in his first career start in the Alamo Bowl last season, he also threw three interceptions. Expect to see a much different Arnold this season, beginning with the season opener on Friday night.

• Since the beginning of the 1999 season, Bob Stoops' first as the Sooner head coach, Oklahoma has lost just 13 times in 153 games played at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Over that same period, OU has recorded 152 consecutive sellouts.

• Temple allowed nearly 200 yards rushing per game last season. With the combination of Gavin Sawchuk and Jovantae Barnes, the Sooners should be able to effectively attack the Owls on the ground early and often, which will serve to open up the passing game and leave the Temple defense having to pick its poison.

• Nic Anderson, OU's second leading receiver will miss the season opener with an undisclosed injury, but Brent Venables said earlier this week that Andrel Anthony will be available to play in Friday's opener. Anthony tore his ACL in the Texas game last season and missed the rest of the season. Another Sooner receiver who could have a giant season is Purdue transfer Deion Burks, who was impressive in the spring game and continued to look good during fall training camp.

Key matchup

The Oklahoma passing attack behind QB Jackson Arnold and one of the nation's deepest wide receiver group against a Temple pass defense that gave up nearly 250 passing yards per game last season and ranked 99th among FBS teams.

Prediction

Oklahoma is as much as a 43-point favorite against the Temple Owls in Week 1 of the college football season. There is no reasonable way the Sooners should lose this game, especially playing at home. OU is the far better team and that should be on full display on Friday night in the Sooners first official game as a member of the SEC. Oklahoma 52, Temple 10.