Moving to the SEC was going to provide challenges. Of that, there was never a doubt. Yet, it’s still impressive to see Oklahoma’s SEC opponents for the 2024 season laid out on paper.
The Sooners will play Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina at home. They’ll travel to play LSU, Auburn, Ole Miss and Missouri. Then there’s the annual matchup with Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Simply put, it’s a tough schedule to navigate. Alabama is arguably the best program in the country over the last 15 years, and Tennessee’s on the upswing with Josh Heupel’s offense leading the way. LSU, Auburn and Ole Miss create incredible game-day environments.
Over at CBS Sports, Barrett Sallee ranked each of the 16 Big 12 schedules and your Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024 slate is considered the toughest in the conference.
Get ready, Sooners. Your first trip through the SEC gauntlet is going to be a monster. Two of their three true home games are against teams that hit the double-digit win mark in 2022 (Alabama and Tennessee), and they have to travel to three raucous road atmospheres (LSU, Auburn and Ole Miss). When you throw in the fact that coach Brent Venables had an extremely underwhelming debut in 2022, things might get sketchy. — Sallee, CBS Sports
2022 has no bearing on 2024. They will be completely different teams heading into Brent Venables’ third season in Norman. The 2022 recruiting class will be the core of that roster, with Jackson Arnold headlining at quarterback. The team speed and physicality will be at a different level, and it will be a more experienced group, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Especially if guys like Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman stick around for one go-round in the SEC.
But it is a tough schedule. There’s no way around it. The Sooners have work to do on both sides of the ball to prepare the roster for the matchups they’ll face each week in their new conference home. But that doesn’t mean it’s an impossible schedule.
At the back end of the ranking with one of the weakest SEC schedules is the Texas Longhorns, who came in at No. 15.
We are all excited about the rekindled rivalry between the Longhorns and Aggies, and the fact that it’ll be on the road will make it an even tougher test for coach Steve Sarkisian’s crew. However, the other two true road games — Arkansas and Vanderbilt — more than make up for it. The Horns get Georgia at home, but their other three home games will likely be winnable. Sallee, CBS Sports
The Longhorns have the unenviable task of traveling to play the Vanderbilt Commodores (note sarcasm). Sure, they’ll host Georgia, and they return to College Station, but a schedule with Texas A&M, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas is fairly straightforward for Texas. If the Longhorns don’t go at least 6-2 in the conference, it will be incredibly disappointing.
Mississippi State had the second-best record of teams on their schedule in 2022. Everyone but Georgia and Mississippi State finished 7-6 or worse last season.
In contrast, six of Oklahoma’s eight opponents (including Texas) finished 8-5 or better in 2022.
Now, it’s impossible to get schedule equity in a 16-team league with historic rivalries to consider. The schedule was going to be tough, any way you slice it, and this is what the Oklahoma Sooners asked for.
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