There has been all kinds of talk the past few months (and years) on whether the Oklahoma Sooners are “[autotag]SEC[/autotag] ready.”
[autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] has had two years to try to get the program ready for the toughest conference in football. Two years to build a culture and a level of discipline and toughness that deteriorated under the previous head coach.
While I and many others believe the Sooners have the right head coach at the controls, making the program ready for the Southeastern Conference can sometimes extend even beyond Venables’ reach.
The university itself is making an SEC-like move for OU’s first game of the 2024 season.
Oklahoma’s opener against the Temple Owls was moved from Saturday, Aug. 31 to Friday, Aug. 30. In response, the school announced it is suspending normal academic and campus operations that day.
The Oklahoman’s Colton Sulley took to social media to announce the move by the university. Sulley said “there was no way they could hold classes during a game day with the parking/tailgating realities on campus.”
As suspected, OU’s Norman campus has suspended normal academic and campus operations for Aug. 30 football season opener.
There was no way they could hold classes during a gameday with the parking/tailgating realities on campus. #Sooners
— Colton Sulley (@colton_sulley) June 17, 2024
The SEC has been made fun of or even criticized by people in other parts of the country due to the fans of their member schools placing an emphasis on athletics (especially football) above all else over the years. This is one small example from the University of Oklahoma, but it will not seem small when game day comes.
This is an SEC type decision. It allows students to make the atmosphere that much better on that Friday night in Norman, because they will not be busy with classes in the hours leading up to kickoff on that day. This is the game you get into when you decide to join the SEC, like it or not.
It just means more.
As to why the game was moved in the first place, athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement: “We were asked to consider moving up the season opener by a day so ESPN could televise our first game as a member of the SEC in a prime-time window.
“It’s a unique and exciting opportunity for us, as it will be our first Friday night game in the history of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and will give our team tremendous visibility nationally. Another major plus is, given the kick time, our players and fans should benefit from a cooler temperature. It’s reasonable to expect that playing in the evening will significantly mitigate some of the heat issues we typically deal with during early season day games. Our first-ever ‘Friday Night Lights’ will undoubtedly be one for the books, and we’re excited to open the season and our first year in the SEC in such a spectacular fashion.”
Oklahoma versus Temple will kick off on Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. CT. The game will take place on ESPN.