OU in the SEC preview: Red River Rivalry will open SEC eyes
The initial OU season in the Southeastern Conference is here. Are the Sooners ready for the SEC? Is the SEC ready for OU?
Football is just around the corner, and it’s time to see what head coach Brent Venables can do in year No. 3 in Norman.
But who are the opponents? SoonerScoop caught up with a beat writer at each of the eight SEC opponents for the 2024 season.
The series continues with Inside Texas’ Joe Cook.
OU vs. Texas (Dallas) – 2:30 p.m. Oct. 12
The Red River Rivalry moves to the SEC. And moves to a new timeslot. Funny enough, that’s all Billy Bowman said would be different about the game, going to the afternoon.
The Sooners and Longhorns provided one of the best games of the 2023 season. Another classic in Red River lore, won 34-30 by OU (of course).
Expectations have never been higher for Texas, while everybody is wondering what OU will look like. How good will both teams be when we reach the second Saturday of October?
More than anything, it will be intriguing to see SEC-specific personalities experience the Cotton Bowl for the first time. Get a real feel of why this is one of the best rivalries and the most unique experience in college football.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian at SEC media days
“There’s an idea of obsession going on in our locker room right now. They got a taste of what it can taste like, of being a Big 12 champion, playing in a College Football Playoff, and we fell short. This idea of obsession, the obsession that our players have is one that really came from them. They couldn’t wait to get back to work. They couldn’t wait to get back in the weight room.
“When I took the job, I don’t know if I could have said that. It was almost like kind of prodding cattle to make sure that what they were doing day in and day out to get them to that point. Now we’ve got a team full of hungry players. It’s a competitive, competitive roster, and I love that about them because in this conference you’ve got to have depth.
“For us to sit here and say this is the deepest team we’ve had, probably the most talented team we’ve had in my four years here, I can unequivocally say that, and we lost some really good players a year ago, but we’ve got a very deep football team, one that we’re excited about, and looking forward to watching them compete this fall.”
