Oklahoma in the SEC and what their 2024 schedule could look like

Trenton Corn breaks down Oklahoma’s future conference opponents in 2024, along with some predictions on what the Sooners 2024 schedule could look like.

On July 21st 2021, it was reported that Oklahoma and Texas reached out to the SEC to join the conference and on the 29th of that same month, the conference unanimously approved the transition.

The next question obviously, was when? The Longhorns and Sooners then reached an agreement with the Big-12 on February 9th to leave the conference early in 2024.

Recently, the SEC announced their schedule for the 2024 season, which had Sooner fans buzzing about the prospects of what the 2024 season will look like for Oklahoma.

In this article, I’ll break down each of Oklahoma’s SEC opponents and what the rest of their 2024 schedule could like beyond that.

What we know:

Oklahoma’s conference opponents on the road will include Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss and LSU, while their home matchups include Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and a neutral site matchup against Texas at the Cotton Bowl.

Even with Temple and Tulane already previously scheduled, OU needs to schedule two more non-conference opponents for the 2024 season. That’s where the next part of this article comes into play. I’m going to give you guys my prediction on how Oklahoma’s 2024 schedule could look and break down their new SEC foes in the process.

Here. We. Go.

My projected 2024 schedule for Oklahoma:

August 31st: vs Temple

Most of this schedule is purely predictive, but the August 31st slate with Temple is already scheduled and will be a good warmup game for the Sooners. Kurt Warners son, EJ is the Owls starting QB this season and has the eligibility to continue leading the Owls in Norman during the 2024 season.

September 7th: @ TCU

This is purely predictive, but OU needs to schedule two more games in 2024, with one of those being a power five opponent. It just so happens that last year’s national championship appearing (and Former conference foe) Horned Frogs has a schedule opening. TCU will play AT OU this season, meaning Oklahoma would have to go to Fort Worth or play a neutral site game in 2024. I personally believe that whatever power five opponent Oklahoma schedules, we should expect it to be a road matchup.

September 14th: vs Tulane

This is another one of the already scheduled games for 2024 and a rematch of the 2021 matchup that saw the Sooners narrowly escape with a victory. The Green Wave finished last season ranked number 9 on the final AP poll and their star QB Michael Pratt is returning to the team this season and theoretically has enough eligibility to play in the 2024 matchup as well. Even if he leaves the team after this season, Tulane will have plenty of momentum coming into this matchup and is quickly becoming one of the very best group of five programs.

September 21st: vs Alabama

Again. This is purely speculation and a prediction. These dates outside of the Temple and Tulane games are not official. Notre Dame in 2012. Ohio State in 2016. And now Alabama in 2024, as this game will arguably be the biggest home game in Oklahoma football history. Many people have suggested this game being a week one season opening prime time affair, but Oklahoma and Alabama’s early season commitments make that hard to accomplish. Alabama has question marks when it comes to the QB position, but there’s plenty of talent in the room and all along the roster, which will make OU’s very first SEC game absolute BOX OFFICE.

September 28th: @ Auburn

The Sooners will play Alabama at home and gets their rival on the road, as this will be the first time both of these programs have played each other in the regular season considering that both of their past meetings were in the sugar bowl. Oklahoma’s first SEC road matchup will be against a rebuilding, yet talented Auburn team that’s being coached by former Arkansas State, Ole Miss and Liberty head coach, Hugh Freeze, who’s notorious for rebuilding programs.

October 5th: vs Texas (At the Cotton Bowl)

We don’t know the exact date that the OU/Texas matchup will be, but unlike the other conference matchups, we have a good barometer of the Texas State fair to nail things down. The Texas State fair starts on September 29th this year on a Friday and the Red River shootout is slated to commence on October 7th the following week. I did some looking and found that next year the fair begins on September 27th on a Friday, so I placed this game a week after as well to follow the same blueprint. This matchup presumably will feature two five star QB’s in Arch Manning and Jackson Arnold. There’s no need to hype this bad boy up, as this is the best rivalry at the best venue in college football.

October 19: @ Missouri

Many people suggested that an annual matchup against Missouri could be a thing and that it could potentially be one of college football’s annual thanksgiving events. These two schools have a long history together, as Missouri was in the Big-8 back in the day with Oklahoma and Texas, before leaving the Big-12 years ago to join the SEC. A name to watch in this matchup in 2024 will be Luther Burden, who was a former OU commit before flipping to play for his hometown team. He’s regarded as the best overall WR recruit in the 2022 cycle and should make plenty of plays when these two face off.

October 26: @ Ole Miss

This stretch of games would appear grueling, as Oklahoma’s last home matchup was September 21st against Alabama, considering that their neutral site game against Texas counts as a “home” matchup. This will be Jeff Lebby’s return to Ole Miss if he’s still with the program, as he left the Rebels OC position to hold the same title at his Alma Mater.

November 2nd: vs South Carolina

Speaking of reunions, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was an assistant at OU before taking the opening to be the head man for the Gamecocks. In theory, Spencer Rattler could technically have enough eligibility to play in this matchup and consider it a revenge game, but I think this season will be his last in college football. Although Rattler will likely be gone, Beamer has a lot of recruits buying into “Beamer Ball”, as he is stacking together really solid recruiting classes and slowly bringing USC back to prominence.

November 9th: vs Tennessee

The biggest reunion of them all will be when former national championship winning OU quarterback, Josh Heupel will return to Norman. Not only will it be a fun reunion, but Heupel has this Volunteers offense being one of the most lethal in all of college football and will have elite QB prospect, Nico Iamaleava at the helm to continue that trend. The matchup with Iamaleava and Jackson Arnold will be fun to watch.

November 16th: vs FAU

This will be the second of the non-conference games that OU currently hasn’t filled yet that I would love to happen. Tom Herman is now the head coach for the Owls and has a lot of history playing the Sooners. FAU currently only has 11 games scheduled, according to fbschedules.com, so if that’s accurate this makes a lot of sense.

November 24th: @LSU

A season finale, Thanksgiving special at night against LSU would be absolutely magical. Brian Kelly had great success with the Tigers in his first season, as they beat Alabama and made the SEC championship game and has the experience at QB to potentially win the SEC championship this season.

Wrapping things up:

In what was a rocky start to the Brent Venables era at OU, Oklahoma is going to need to have success and build momentum moving into SEC play in 2024.

As a Sooner fan, I cannot wait for the move to the SEC. I’m going from home conference opponents of Iowa State, UCF, West Virginia and TCU to ALABAMA, TENNESSEE & SOUTH CAROLINA.