Completed Event: Football versus Illinois State on August 30, 2025 , Win , 35, to, 3
Final
Football
35
vs Illinois State
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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Marquee Matchups Fill OU's Future Schedules
February 08, 2021 | Football
To successfully schedule college football games against elite programs, a school must look years into the future, sometimes decades.
In NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history, perhaps no program consistently has formulated a more difficult regular-season non-conference schedule than Oklahoma.
This will continue to hold true for at least the next 16 years. From 2021-2036, the Sooners will face eight FBS programs (including Big 12 rival Texas) that rank among the top 14 programs in all-time victories.
Future schedules include first-ever visits to Norman by Georgia (2023), Michigan (2025) and LSU (2027).
This upcoming season will rekindle the historic OU-Nebraska series with a game in Norman and a 2022 contest in Lincoln. The programs will meet again in 2029 in Norman and 2030 in Lincoln.
Most future series will come in back-to-back seasons – Nebraska (2021-22; 2029-30), Michigan (2025-26), LSU (2027-28), Alabama (2032-33) and Clemson (2035-36).
The Georgia home-and-home will commence in 2023 but will not conclude until 2031 in Athens. "That's an anomaly," OU athletics director Joe Castiglione said of the eight-year gap between games, "but those happen from time to time. It is a little bit like a Rubik's Cube when you're doing scheduling. Just when you have something that might work, there's a conflict or some other conundrum."
The Sooners' only previous meeting against the Bulldogs came in a College Football Playoff national semifinal in the 2017 season (won by Georgia 54-48 in double overtime).
"It's exciting. It's going to be a fun schedule, man," said Lincoln Riley, who is entering his fifth season as OU's head coach. "It fits with our belief system and our model here of wanting to play the very best competition and wanting to play in those big games where there's a lot of build-up. It's great for our players, our fans and everybody associated with OU football."
The Sooners rank fifth among FBS schools in all-time winning percentage (.726) and sixth in all-time victories (917). Their 673 wins since the end of World War II are most in the country and are 40 more than the program with the next most (Alabama).
In its storied history, OU has faced 37 of the top 40 all-time winningest FBS programs, the lone exceptions being Georgia Tech with 741 victories (.586), Michigan State with 710 (.598) and Miami (Ohio) with 700 (.596).
Asked if there were any programs he would like to face, Riley said, "Honestly, some of the ones on our future schedules would have been some of the first ones out of my mouth."
"It's exciting. It fits with our belief system and our model here of wanting to play the very best competition... It's great for our players, our fans and everybody associated with OU football."
Lincoln Riley
Since his arrival as athletics director in 1998, Castiglione has operated on the premise of having a non-conference football schedule that includes one prominent and at least one mid-tier program each season.
"That's been a good balance for us. It's been a positive," Riley said. "With anything you do this day and age, you've got to keep strategically doing the right thing for the College Football Playoff and I think we have. These things happen so many years out in advance, you're really projecting in a lot of ways. They (Castiglione and his staff) normally come in with several different ideas and different scenarios we talk through and try to find the very best one that fits us."
However, the recent evolution of college football has brought numerous scheduling challenges – the adjustment of switching from 11 regular-season games to 12; the increase from eight conference games to nine; the strength-of-schedule tinkering that influenced the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings that began in 1998; the delicate SOS balancing act to best qualify your school for the current College Football Playoff.
"If one were to list the important components to a successful program – and in our case that is possibly pursuing championships – I'd put scheduling right up there in the mix," Castiglione said. "Certainly, you have to have great players to begin with, and then coaching, player development and the resources to utilize in a program, but the scheduling philosophy can make or break a program if it's not handled properly."
While Castiglione heads the quest to line up premier opponents, OU senior associate athletic director/external operations Kenny Mossman has the often not-so-envious chore of filling in the remaining non-conference gaps.
"I let Kenny sharpen his sword on finding some of the other games to build around the marquee games," Castiglione said. "You can really find out if somebody has the right mettle or not to do that. That's where the real challenges are – finding those other games."
To best achieve a balanced schedule, playing against smaller names occasionally is unavoidable. "It's been intentional, but we haven't played that many FCS opponents. Sometimes there are just no other options," Castiglione said.
Other unforeseen obstacles can be overwhelming. Last season's home game against Tennessee and road contest at Army were canceled due to COVID-19.
The Sooners are still scheduled to play at Tennessee in 2024 and Castiglione said he is trying to find a date to replace last season's cancellation. "It might be awhile before we get them (the Volunteers) to return to Norman," said Castiglione, who also is seeking a future slot for the Army game at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y.
Castiglione said he began work on the Nebraska series in 2010 when the Cornhuskers chose to join the Big Ten Conference the following season. Castiglione said he had "many, many, many" conversations with former NU football coach and athletics director Tom Osborne, trying to convince the Cornhuskers to stay in the Big 12.
"It's just a great rivalry we did not want to see die," Castiglione said. "Our schedule back then was full until 2021, but I said, 'Tom, 2021 will be the 50th anniversary of the 'Game of the Century,' one of the most magical games in the history of college football. We have to play that year.' Tom said, 'You're right.' And that's how we got the games scheduled."
"It's important for marquee programs to play because that is what people want to see. To borrow an old phrase, 'iron sharpens iron.'"
Joe Castiglione
The elusive Michigan series came to be when Castiglione first learned the Wolverines were dropping their traditional series against Notre Dame. "They (Michigan) never had any interest in playing Oklahoma. They had other plans and would never take our phone calls," Castiglione said. "But since there was a possible opening, we seized upon it. That series took a lot of work."
The only previous OU-Michigan game capped the 1975 season at the Orange Bowl in Miami, which the Sooners won 14-6 to secure their fifth national championship.
Alabama's second-ever visit to Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium will come in 2032. The Crimson Tide's previous Norman appearance was in 2002, which the No. 2-ranked Sooners won 37-27. The schools met the following season in Tuscaloosa, where No. 1-ranked OU posted a 20-13 triumph.
The initial home-and-home with Alabama still gets rave reviews nearly 20 years later. "That was an all-timer," Castiglione said. "To this day, there is still great respect between the universities and their fans. So many friendships were made."
Castiglione confirmed the Sooners' schedule has never been extended this far into the future. "I think we've stretched the limit a little bit," Castiglione said with a chuckle. "It's important for marquee programs to play because that is what people want to see. To borrow an old phrase, 'iron sharpens iron' and I think that's important in how we strategically try to position ourselves to reach our goals."
Future games have been set, but there is no certainty what the future holds 15 years down the road.
"All I ask is that somebody saves me an RV space for that (2036) Clemson game in Norman," Castiglione said jokingly. "That's the only thing I'll be driving to the game if I'm still around at that point."
Asked if he'll still be OU's head coach to face the current future schedule in its entirety, Riley forced a laugh and said, "Absolutely, that is the plan. Hopefully, they won't run me out of here before then."
SEASON TICKET REWEWAL INFORMATION
2021 OU season tickets and Sooner Club renewals can be made via your online account manager with a renewal deadline of April 30, 2021.
NEW SEASON TICKET INFORMATION
Fans who want to purchase or would like more information on 2021 season tickets may contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office by phone or text at 405-325-2424 or by email at outickets@ou.edu. Fans may also click here to receive more details.
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