No matter how small it seems, no tradition is safe in college football today.
The SEC on Thursday announced several kickoff times and TV slots for games during the 2025 college football season, including the Red River Rivalry between the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns. For the second straight year, the SEC set the Red River Rivalry for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff time, going away from its traditional 11 a.m. start.
Kickoff time announced for Red River Rivalry
The Sooners and Longhorns will play at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 11, at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas. The game will be broadcast on ABC or ESPN. The game also started at 2:30 last year.
Before both schools moved from the Big 12 to the SEC last year, the Red River Rivalry had kicked off at 11 a.m. all but two years between 2008 and 2023. The two faced off at 2:30 p.m. in 2010 and 2017. Now, in just two years in the SEC, the conference has completely squandered that tradition and already matched that total.
Going back 20 years to 2005, the Red River Rivalry has had a 2:30 p.m. kickoff only four times. It also happened back-to-back seasons in 2006-07. The Red River Rivalry has never been played in primetime.
This is a rivalry rooted in tradition and it's the little things that make it so special, even if it doesn't seem important to outsiders. The old Cotton Bowl Stadium doesn't even host its own bowl game anymore, but it still does the Red River Rivalry every year as the venue is split right down the middle between crimson and burnt orange.
One of the biggest college football games of the year happening right in the middle of the country's largest state fair is an envirnoment that can't be matched.
These unique traditions could slowly be chipped away, though, as college football constantly changes and even rivalries have become of less importance, with even Bedlam between the Sooners and Oklahoma State dead after OU's move to the SEC.
A time change is easy to get over, but now we hope money doesn't talk loud enough for the SEC to force the Red River Rivalry to a new venue with more seats and opportunities.
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