Evaluating which SEC programs will emerge as rivals with Oklahoma

Oklahoma is now officially minted as an SEC school, but ahead of their first football season, who are some opponents who could emerge as modern rivals following the switch?

On Monday morning’s On3 YouTube live-stream with Andy Staples, George Stoia and Eddie Radosevich of Sooner Scoop broke down the programs they feel are most likely to develop or restart a rivalry with the Sooners. It’s been a while, but Radosevich says Arkansas could fall into that camp.

“The OU-Arkansas thing, at least in my lifetime, has never really been that big of a deal,” he explained, noting the rivalry between the programs back in the 20th century. “They certainly haven’t played on the football field outside of the Cotton Bowl in 2001. So, it is kind of weird.”

Radosevich added that his buddy George is keen on an Oklahoma-Missouri rivalry, especially with the Tigers’ recent rise in profile.

“And Missouri, like, I know George has tried to start a Missouri rivalry,” Radosevich said, to which Andy Staples replied: “Missouri being good helps that. In the old Big 8 history, Missouri was never good.”

Eddie Radosevich could envision a rivalry with Mizzou, but like Arkansas, he’s not sure what the history really is. “It would be fun. I just don’t think that, especially for anybody of our age or likeness, it doesn’t seem like OU-Missouri has ever been a thing,” he said.

Of course, though, if the SEC goes with the four-team pod scheduling system awarding each team a set number of annual rivals, Stoia has some guesses for who those rivals could be.

“It’ll be interesting to see how they do the scheduling going forward. Because if they go to the pod system where you have the three teams that you play every single year, I would think Missouri would probably be in that group for Oklahoma,” says Stoia. He adds, “Obviously, Texas would be.”

However, that final spot could get interesting. Arkansas is obviously a possibility given their proximity and the history of the Sooners and Razorbacks also once sharing a conference. But Stoia says it’s anyone’s guess.

“I don’t know who that third team would be, maybe Florida, Arkansas, you know, I could see something between LSU and OU.”

LSU is another one that makes sense on a proximity basis, but the Tigers will certainly have Florida and Alabama in their pod, so perhaps Oklahoma could make a good case as that third rival for the Tigers.