Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State all have tough football schedules this season.
In nonconference action, the Golden Hurricane have road games at Michigan State and San Jose State plus home contests against OSU and Wyoming.
OU opens at home with a Sunday night game against Houston, followed by a home game versus South Dakota and a road trip to UCLA.
OSU opens on the road at Oregon State, then hosts McNeese State and finally comes to Tulsa for its nonconference slate.
OU and OSU will have week-to-week challenges in the tough Big 12 Conference while Tulsa faces an American Athletic Conference that now constantly has teams in the Top 25.
The AAC is getting so good they can make a case for a “Power Six” designation of top football conferences instead of the “Power Five” (Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Pac-12 conferences).
Tough slate for Tulsa
Michigan State is a perennial powerhouse in the Big Ten. MSU went 7-6 last year, including a 7-6 loss to Oregon in the Redbox Bowl.
San Jose State (1-11) was terrible last season, with a lone victory (50-37 over UNLV).
OSU will be heavily favored over Tulsa for several reasons. Even though the game is in Tulsa, there may be more OSU fans in the stadium than Tulsa fans. The City of Tulsa has a lot of OSU alumni who would love to see their team play here.
An upset by Tulsa would be a great momentum changer for the Golden Hurricane and a terrible setback for the Cowboys.
Wyoming went 6-6 last season but those losses were to teams like Washington State, Missouri, Boise State and Utah State. Wyoming beat Colorado State and Air Force.
TU’s conference schedule includes Central Florida, a potential Top 10 team, Houston and some up-and-coming teams like South Florida, SMU, Memphis and Cincinnati.
Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery said getting to bowl eligibility (six games) would be a good start for a team that has only won five games in the past two seasons.
In the AAC, Cincinnati opens with back-to-back games against UCLA and Ohio State.
Houston must play at OU and then host Washington State.
“It’s a scary one now,” said Dana Holgorsen, the former West Virginia coach who took over at Houston. “There’s no difference in the majority here and in the Power 5 Leagues. We’ve always considered ourselves a Power 6 and have a chance to put a team in the CFP or New Year’s six like UH did a few years ago. We are a conference they don’t want to deal with. From a coaching circle, we are a conference people don’t want to deal with.”
Oklahoma seeks perfection
In the past, OU’s game at UCLA would be in the national spotlight. But the Bruins were 3-9 last year, including a 49-21 loss to OU in Norman. UCLA figures to be better this year but it may take a few years to challenge for the Pac-12 title or national honors.
Houston is a puzzle. The Cougars beat No. 21 South Florida 57-36 last year but were embarrassed in the Armed Forces Bowl, losing to Army 14-70. Holgorsen is the new Houston coach and he has faced the Sooners many time while at OSU and West Virginia.
“When I got hired, the first thing I looked at the schedule and saw Oklahoma, who I’ve faced (the) last seven years,” Holgorsen said. “It’s a game we’ll expect to win and will be challenging. We’ll line up and go toe to toe with them.”
OU is breaking in a new quarterback and a Sunday night game is a unique scenario.
South Dakota, a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, went 4-7 last season but nearly upset Kansas State (24-27) in Manhattan, Kansas. An OU loss to South Dakota would be historic – right up there with the bowl loss to Boise State.
In the Big 12, OU won’t catch a break. Texas has the preseason top quarterback and the Longhorns split with OU last year. Texas won the Red River Rivalry Shootout 48-45 but lost the Big 12 Championship 27-39. Texas went 10-3 with losses to OU, OSU and West Virginia but the signature win was a 28-21 victory over No. 5 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. A concern for Texas is that it only has eight returning starters.
There could be a dropoff in the Big 12 with four new coaches at Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and West Virginia, but Iowa State, TCU, OSU and Baylor figure to be improved.
OU has tough road games at UCLA, Kansas State, Baylor and OSU. The OU-Texas game is a supposedly neutral site (in the State of Texas) and playing in Stillwater is a road game but it’s just a bus ride from Norman. The Sooners get Texas Tech, West Virginia, Iowa State and TCU at home.
The challenge for OU is to win every game, win the Big 12 for a fifth year in a row, make it to the College Football Playoff and win the national title.
An early loss shouldn’t derail those plans due to the Sooners’ tough nonconference slate.
Oklahoma State needs at least 10 wins
OSU (7-6) had an up and down season in 2018. The Cowboys won four of their first five games but lost five of their last eight. A bright note was a 38-33 win over Missouri in the Liberty Bowl.
Oregon State was weak last year, winning only two games (against Southern Utah and Colorado). They gave up more than 50 points four times, including a 31-77 loss to No. 5 Ohio State. McNeese State went 6-5 last season. They fell to No. 25 BYU 3-30. OSU is already a heavy favorite to beat Tulsa in Tulsa.
The Cowboys should be undefeated going into conference play.
OSU slipped past Texas and narrowly lost to No. 6 Oklahoma (47-48) in the Big 12. Tough losses against Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor and TCU prevented the Cowboys from reaching 10 wins – a recent standard for Mike Gundy teams.
OSU has six homes games, including OU, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Kansas in the Big 12. But the Cowboys must hit the road for games at West Virginia, Iowa State, Lubbock and Texas.
West Virginia has a tough nonconference schedule with Missouri and North Carolina State. On the other hand, Baylor plays Stephen F. Austin, Rice and UTSA.