‘Game of the Century’ September 18

Oklahoma football fans will need to get up early in September as two of the Sooners’ first games will kick off at 11 a.m.

OU opens the season on September 4 at Tulane in a game that will be televised by ABC and then the 50th anniversary of “The Game of the Century” between OU and former conference foe Nebraska will be in Norman on September 18 on FOX.

Both games kick off at 11 a.m. due to television demands.

FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show will air from Norman for the game against the Cornhuskers.

ESPN has announced it would carry the Oct. 9 Texas game in Dallas and the Nov. 27 contest at Oklahoma State but the times have not been determined.

OU won its only meeting with Tulane, a 56-14 win in Norman in 2017, as the AP’s No. 2-ranked team. OU will  finish the three-game series with Tulane in Norman in 2024.

OU and Nebraska were together in the Big Seven/Big Eight and later the Big 12 conferences. Oklahoma (50) and Nebraska (46) rank first and second nationally in conference championships. The Sooners or Huskers (or both) won or shared Big Seven/Big Eight titles in 44 of the conferences’ 48 years (1948-95) and combined for nine Big 12 championships (seven by OU) before Nebraska left the league in 2011.

This year’s game is on the 50-year anniversary of the “Game of the Century” that saw the No. 1-ranked Cornhuskers edge the No. 2 Sooners 35-31 on Nov. 25, 1971. The game was on Thanksgiving Day game in Norman and garnered a then-record 55-million-plus television viewers and featured 17 of the 22 first-team All-Big Eight selections that season (nine from NU and eight from OU).

OU and Nebraska haven’t played since 2010 when OU won 23-20 win in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington, Texas. The Sooners hold a 45-38-3 series lead against the Huskers.