Oklahoma Announces 2010 Football Schedule

Courtesy of Oklahoma Athletics

NORMAN, Okla. - After playing the nation’s second-most difficult schedule last season, Oklahoma will again embark on a challenging slate for the upcoming campaign. Nine teams that played in bowls, including two that participated in BCS match-ups, comprise Oklahoma’s 12-game football schedule for 2010.

Those 12 opponents combined for a record of 90-64 in 2009.

“We have assembled a schedule that is representative of our tradition,” said OU Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione. “It features intriguing intersectional games as well as the always rigorous Big 12.”

“We’re also excited about the visit from the Air Force Academy. With Tinker Air Force Base located just a few miles north of our stadium, we anticipate heightened interest in that game. Certainly we are privileged to host the Cadets in Norman.”

Oklahoma will play six games at home, five on the road and one, the annual match-up with Texas, on a neutral field.

OU enters the season with a record of 799-302-53 and will become just the eighth college program to reach 800 wins when it records its next victory. Each of the schools ranked higher on that list have played at least 33 more games than Oklahoma.

The Sooners open with three straight home games. The first takes place Sept. 4 against Utah State prior to a Sept. 11 visit from Florida State and new Seminoles defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, the brother of OU Head Coach Bob Stoops.

It is the first of two meetings between Oklahoma and Florida State with the return game taking place in Tallahassee during the 2011 season.

That FSU game will be the 70th for Stoops at the OU helm and if Sooner fans sell out that game and the Utah State game before it, there will be a new school record for consecutive sellouts at 70.

Air Force will follow Florida State into Norman in the completion of a contract that began at Colorado Springs in 2001. The Falcons were 8-5 last season including a 47-20 win over Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Oklahoma’s first road game of the season opens a stretch of back-to-back contests against 2009 BCS participants, both away from Norman. The Sept. 25 game is against Cincinnati in Paul Brown Stadium, home of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, to be followed by the annual Red River Rivalry against Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 2.

The lone open week for OU falls on Oct. 9 before the Sooners alternate home and road games over the next six weeks. They open that stretch with Iowa State in Norman on Oct. 16, then travel to Missouri (Oct. 23), play at home to Colorado (Oct. 30), go to Texas A&M (Nov. 6), host Texas Tech (Nov. 13) then venture to Baylor (Nov. 20).

The regular season finale is Nov. 27 at Oklahoma State.

Starting times are yet to be determined pending selections by television networks.