SMU just turned Oklahoma's future road trip into a dream home game

Expect Sooners fans to invade the Dallas Metroplex at least twice in the 2027 season. Big news dropped on Thursday when it was announced the highly-anticipated matchup between Oklahoma and SMU was moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

This turns what could've been a tricky road game in front of a packed house of Mustang fans at Gerald J. Ford Stadium into a neutral site event where Sooner fans will likely be the majority.

SMU moves Sooners matchup to AT&T Stadium

SMU isn't giving up a home game against an iconic opponent for free. The Mustangs are likely grabbing a big, fat check to move this game (and their home game against LSU in 2029) to the much larger home of the Dallas Cowboys.

But more than that it speaks to the brand power of Oklahoma football. The City of Arlington and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones know that there are a ton of Oklahoma fans in the region and it will be easy to get 80,000 into the stadium. There's a great possibility the standing-room areas will be opened to increase the capacity to nearly 100,000. And, as Sooners football GM Jim Nagy pointed out, this is great news for the Sooner faithful that live in and around the Dallas metroplex.

Sooner fans are ready to fill AT&T Stadium in 2027

Surprisingly, this will only be the eighth time that Oklahoma and SMU will met on the gridiron. Thelast meeting was a 28–11 Sooners win in Norman in 2023. Prior to that, the two teams last played in 1995, a 24-10 Sooners victory. The last time they played in Dallas was 1970, which was won 28-11 by Oklahoma. SMU's only victory in the series came in 1968.

At one time, this was a dream matchup to think about. Oklahoma was at the top of the college football world under Barry Switzer from the early 1970s until he left the program in 1988, while SMU was one of the top programs in the early 80s with its "Pony Express" teams. Switzer and SMU coach Ron Meyer battled after many of the same top recruits, and when the Sooners landed star running back Marcus Dupree, he was brought in with fanfare that Eric Dickerson, the then two-time All-American at SMU, considered the freshman one of the primary challengers for his throne. 

Things have changed a lot in 45 years. The SWC/Big 8 war has long died and the trajectories of Oklahoma and SMU football couldn't have been much more different. Still expect Sooner fans, young and old, to turn AT&T Stadium into Oklahoma Memorial South.