Game Primer: OU vs. Michigan

#18 Oklahoma

#15 Michigan

Saturday, Sept. 6 / 6:30 p.m. CT / Owen Field

OPENING KICK

• Two of college football's all-time powerhouse programs meet for just the second time when No. 18/24 Oklahoma (1-0) hosts No. 15/13 Michigan (1-0) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. The game, the first in the regular season between the Sooners and Wolverines, will be televised by ABC with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe announcing.

• The 2025 season marks the 131st in OU football history. The Sooners lead the nation with their 50 all-time conference championships, 27 11-plus-win seasons (tied), 33 AP top-five finishes and five No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks (tied). They rank second with their seven Heisman Trophy winners (tied), third with seven AP national championships, their 101 weeks as the AP's No. 1 team and 431 total weeks in the AP Top 5, fourth with their 419 NFL Draft picks and fifth with their 58 bowl appearances.

• Oklahoma owns a 79-54-4 record against current Big Ten programs. More than half of those contests were against former conference rival Nebraska (OU is 47-38-3 against the Huskers). Saturday will mark the Sooners' first game against a Big Ten opponent since sweeping Nebraska in a home-and-home series in 2021 (23-16 in Norman) and 2022 (49-14 in Lincoln in Brent Venables' first year as head coach). OU is 12-7 against Big Ten members at the time of competition.

• Saturday's contest will mark the 1,353rd in OU history. The Sooners rank fifth in college football annals with their .723 all-time winning percentage (951-348-53 record), trailing Ohio State (.736), Michigan (.733), Alabama (.733) and Notre Dame (.731). Since the end of World War II (1946 season to present), OU leads all programs with 707 wins (29 more than Alabama, the program with the next most) and owns a .762 winning percentage. Michigan ranks seventh with 634 victories during the span.

• Oklahoma and Michigan are two of the five college football programs sponsored by Jordan Brand. The others are Florida, North Carolina and UCLA. Michigan was the first Jordan Brand football team (2016) while OU's relationship began in 2018. Saturday's game will mark the Sooners' second against another Jordan Brand team. They beat Florida 55-20 in the Cotton Bowl to cap the 2020 season.

NORMAN, OK - August 30, 2025 - Oklahoma Wide Receiver Keontez Lewis (#9) during the game between the Illinois State Redbirds and the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK. Photo By Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

FOR THE FANS

• Approximately two hours and 15 minutes before each home game (4:15 p.m. this Saturday), OU players and coaches will arrive at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium via team buses and walk to their stadium entrance while being cheered by fans. This year's "Walk of Champions" path again originates from the Jenkins Ave./Brooks St. intersection just northeast of the stadium (view map here). The team will be led by the Sooner Schooner and OU Spirit.

• New this fall, free, public tailgating is open on the historic North Oval. For the first time in university history, fans have the opportunity to set up their tailgates on one of the most recognizable places on campus, creating an electric atmosphere just steps away from Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Fans can claim spaces on the North Oval beginning at 6 p.m. on the Friday before a home game. More tailgating information, policies and a map, click here.

• Once again, "Party at the Palace, Presented by Allstate" will be held on the lawn immediately north of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for fans of all ages, this week running from 2 to 6 p.m. Highlights include food trucks, giveaways, music, interactive games, inflatables and more. Additionally, 107.7 The Franchise, the flagship station of the Sooner Sports Radio Network, originates the start of its pregame show live from Party at the Palace beginning three hours prior to kickoff.

• OU Athletics and Sooner Sports Properties are producing limited-edition collectible game programs in high-quality print for home football contests against Auburn, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU – OU's four 2025 SEC home opponents – plus Big Ten foe Michigan. Souvenir 96-page game programs are available for preorder for $20 each, and the 220-page 2025 OU Football Media Guide can be purchased for $40 (limited stock). Click here for details.

• The University of Oklahoma and the Southeastern Conference have zero-tolerance policies regarding fan field intrusions and throwing debris on the field. Starting in 2025, the SEC will issue member schools a $500,000 fine for violating the field-intrusion policy (paid to the opposing school for conference games) and a $250,000 fine for throwing debris on the field. Violations of these policies could also result in prosecution.

• A reminder that umbrellas are not permitted inside Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. For a full list of OU game day policies, procedures and additional fan information, click here.

KEY STORYLINES

• Saturday's game will mark the second meeting between Oklahoma and Michigan. The lone matchup occurred in the 1975 season, when OU downed the Wolverines 14-6 in the Orange Bowl to claim its fifth AP national championship. (A game recap is on page 3 of these notes).

• Michigan is coached by Sherrone Moore, who was an Oklahoma offensive lineman on the 2006 and '07 teams under head coach Bob Stoops. The Sooners combined for a 22-6 record those seasons and won Big 12 championships each year (defeated No. 19 Nebraska 21-7 in the 2006 league title game and No. 1 Missouri 38-17 in the '07 championship game). Moore played in five games at guard as a junior in 2006 and nine the following year as a senior (no starts either season). A transfer from Butler (Kan.) Community College, Moore was named to the All-Big 12 Academic First Team as a senior. He was teammates with current Oklahoma running backs coach DeMarco Murray (2014 NFL Offensive Player of the Year with Dallas) and current tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley. OU head coach Brent Venables was the Sooners' associate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach during Moore's two years in Norman.

• Saturday's game will mark just OU's eighth at home against a member of the Big Ten Conference at the time of competition. The Sooners are 4-3 in those contests. They beat Wisconsin (48-21 in 1969), Iowa (21-6 in 1979), Minnesota (63-0 in 1986) and Nebraska (23-16 in 2021), and lost to Northwestern (19-3 in 1960) and Ohio State (24-14 in 1983 and 45-24 in 2016).

• Oklahoma's 2024 defense was its best under head coach Brent Venables, now in his fourth year, and the Sooners returned six defenders this season who started at least eight games a year ago, including three on the line. OU, which ranked 19th nationally in total defense last year (its 318.2 yards allowed per game were its fewest since 2009), held Illinois State to 151 total yards and eight first downs Saturday.

• Perhaps OU's two biggest offseason player additions were on the offensive side of the ball in redshirt junior quarterback John Mateer and senior running back Jaydn Ott. Mateer, who starred at Washington State, was ranked by ESPN in May as the country's No. 1 transfer, while Ott was No. 17. A Manning Award finalist last year after passing for 3,139 yards and rushing for 826 in his first season as a starter, Mateer was the nation's only player with at least 20 touchdown passes (29) and at least 10 rushing TDs (15). His 44 TDs responsible for led the country in the regular season. Ott, who came from Cal, rushed for 2,597 yards (24 TDs) and caught 95 passes for 712 yards (six TDs) over the last three seasons (1,315 rushing yards/12 TDs in 2023).

• Of Oklahoma's 111 players, 45 (or 41%) are newcomers. That group is comprised of 23 freshmen and 22 transfers (seven seniors, 10 juniors and five sophomores).

• Of the 74 players on OU's week 1 depth chart, 19 (or 26%) were freshmen. That includes 11 true freshmen (five offense, five defense, one special teams) and eight redshirt freshmen (two offense, five defense, one special teams).

RECAPPING THE WIN OVER ILLINOIS STATE

• John Mateer turned in one of the best quarterback-debut performances in program history and the defense surrendered just 151 yards (its fewest in five years) as No. 18 Oklahoma posted a 35-3 win over Illinois State on Saturday. The Redbirds entered the contest ranked No. 6 in both FCS preseason polls.

• Mateer set an OU record for passing yards in a Sooner debut, completing 30 of 37 attempts (81%) for 392 yards and three touchdowns to break Baker Mayfield's previous standard of 388 yards (vs. Akron in 2015). He also rushed for 24 yards and a TD.

• Mateer's 392 yards led the SEC in week one (next most was 341) and were second most nationally. His 191.4 passing efficiency rating was OU's best since 2023 (min. 25 attempts).

• The Sooners limited the Redbirds to 34 passing yards and 1.7 yards per pass attempt (3.3 yards per completion). It was OU's fewest passing yards allowed since 2013.

• Also making his OU debut, redshirt senior wide receiver Keontez Lewis registered a career-high nine catches for 119 yards and a career-high-tying two touchdowns (29 and 20 yards).

• Mateer's other TD throw was a 27-yarder to redshirt senior Deion Burks. All four of Burks' OU TDs have come in season openers the last two years (three vs. Temple in 2024). He finished with seven catches for 88 yards, his most as a Sooner.

• Senior Jaren Kanak, who played linebacker the last three seasons (started nine games in 2023 and one last season) started at tight end Saturday and logged five receptions for 90 yards, including a 43-yarder. It was the most receiving yards in a game by an OU tight end since the 2022 season.

• Junior linebacker Sammy Omosigho led OU with a career-high eight tackles, including his first career sack.

• Eight players (four offensive, four defensive) made their first OU starts Saturday: Mateer, Lewis, redshirt junior WR Isaiah Sategna III and redshirt freshman OL Eddy Pierre-Louis on offense, and redshirt senior LB Kendal Daniels, senior DL Marvin Jones Jr., sophomore DB Michael Boganowski and freshman DB Courtland Guillory on defense.

• Guillory became only the second OU true freshman to start at cornerback in a season opener (the other was P.J. Mbanasor in 2015).

ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY RETURNS

• "ESPN College GameDay" will air from Norman on Saturday morning, marking the 42nd time the show will have been on hand for a game involving Oklahoma. The Sooners are 27-14 (.659) in such games. Only Ohio State (67 times) and Alabama (60) have been featured more often than OU.

• This will mark College GameDay's 10th appearance at an OU home contest (Oklahoma is 6-3). The last was last season when Tennessee posted a 25-15 win on Sept. 21. OU's wins when hosting College GameDay came in 2000 (31-14 vs. No. 1 Nebraska), 2001 (38-37 vs. No. 11 Kansas State), 2003 (52-9 vs. No. 14 Oklahoma State), 2007 (41-31 vs. No. 11 Missouri) and 2008 (65-21 vs. No. 2 Texas Tech). The other two losses came in 1995 (38-17 to No. 4 Colorado) and 2012 (30-13 to No. 5 Notre Dame).

• Saturday will mark Michigan's 41st appearance on College GameDay (21-19 record).

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

• The Sooners are 146-15 (.907) at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season (Bob Stoops' first year as head coach), giving them just one more home loss than conference titles during the period. It is the second-best home winning percentage in the country over the last 26-plus seasons (Boise State [.908] is first and Ohio State [.896] third). OU has outscored its foes by an average of 43-18 in those games.

• Including this week's game, OU has sold out 161 straight originally scheduled home contests dating back to the start of the 1999 season (Bob Stoops' first as head coach). Only Nebraska has a longer current streak.

• Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium celebrated its 100th season in 2024. The 100th anniversary of the first game played in the stadium will be on Oct. 17. On that day in 1925, the first contest was played in front of the new 16,000-seat west stands, a 7-0 victory over Drake.

• The first game played at the current stadium site, called Owen Field and named after former head coach and athletics director Bennie Owen (a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame), took place in 1923, before stadium construction got underway.

• OU owns a sparkling 424-88-15 (.819) all-time record at the "Palace on the Prairie" and has faced 97 opponents there (Michigan, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU this season will take that number to 101).

NORMAN, OK - August 30, 2025 - RUF/NEKS during the game between the Illinois State Redbirds and the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, OK. Photo By Morgan Givens/University of Oklahoma

1976 ORANGE BOWL RECAP: OU BEATS MICHIGAN TO WIN NATIONAL TITLE

• In the only Oklahoma-Michigan football meeting, Barry Switzer's 1975 Sooners posted a 14-6 Orange Bowl win over the Wolverines on Jan. 1, 1976, to claim their fifth of seven AP national championships. It was OU's first bowl game under Switzer, and second national title (the 1974 Sooners were prohibited by the NCAA from playing in a bowl game but still were crowned AP national champs).

• Under the direction of head coach Bo Schembechler, Michigan became the first Big Ten team to play in the Orange Bowl. It was also the Wolverines' first time facing a team that ran the "Wishbone" offense.

• No. 1-ranked Ohio State lost 23-10 to UCLA in the Rose Bowl earlier in the day, opening the door for No. 3 OU to claim a national title, as No. 2 Texas A&M had lost 20-0 to USC in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 22.

• OU fumbled four times and lost three, but outgained Michigan 345-202 in total yards. The Sooners surrendered 169 rushing yards and just 33 passing yards. The Wolverines completed only two of 20 pass attempts and threw three interceptions. Their first completion came with under 40 seconds left in the game.

• The Sooners' touchdowns came on a 39-yard end-around by receiver Billy Brooks in the second quarter and a 10-yard keeper by quarterback Steve Davis on the first play of the fourth quarter. Michigan's only score came on a 2-yard rush by Gordie Bell after OU fumbled at its own 2, but the two-point conversion failed.

• Davis, playing in his final collegiate game, rushed 19 times for 55 yards and completed 3 of 5 passes for 63 yards. His record as OU's starting quarterback improved to 32-1-1, the same as Switzer's as OU head coach.

• The dominant Oklahoma defense was led by brothers Dewey and Lee Roy Selmon. The consensus first-team All-America defensive linemen combined for 23 tackles. Dewey Selmon's 13 tackles still stand as the most ever by an OU defensive lineman in a bowl game.

• The game was the sixth and last Orange Bowl played on artificial turf.

ONE OF NATION'S TOUGHEST SCHEDULES

• For the second straight season, Oklahoma's schedule is among the nation's most challenging. Heading into 2025, the Sooners' strength of schedule was ranked as the country's toughest in ESPN's FPI.

• OU is scheduled to play three of the top 10 teams in the AP preseason poll and seven of the top 25 squads: No. 1 Texas (in Dallas), No. 8 Alabama (away), No. 9 LSU (home), No. 13 South Carolina (away), No. 14 Michigan (home), No. 21 Ole Miss (home) and No. 24 Tennessee (away).

• Only four teams nationally (all in the SEC) will play seven games against teams in the 2025 preseason AP poll (also Florida, LSU and Mississippi State).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

• During the modern era of college football (since the end of World War II), the Sooners are the nation's No. 1 team with more wins (706) than any other program (next most is 678 by Alabama).

• Oklahoma has finished in the top 5 of the AP poll a nation-leading 33 times (Ohio State is second with 31).

• OU leads all FBS programs with 50 all-time conference championships. The rest of the top five includes Nebraska (46), Michigan (45), Ohio State (39) and USC (37). The Sooners' 14 league titles since 2000 are the most among Power Five programs (Ohio State ranks second with 11).

• No program has more all-time 11-win seasons than Oklahoma's 27 (Alabama also has 27).

• Since the start of the 2000 season, OU ranks second with 18 seasons of at least 10 wins and ranks second with 262 victories.

• Since former head coach Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, OU leads the country with its 13,125 points scored. Boise State (12,696) is second and Oregon (12,437) third.

• OU's 81 consensus All-Americans since 1950 lead the nation (Alabama and Ohio State rank second with 77 each). Since 2000, OU has produced 31 consensus All-Americans, tied with Ohio State behind just Alabama.

OPENING KICK

FOR THE FANS

KEY STORYLINES

RECAPPING THE WIN OVER ILLINOIS STATE

ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY RETURNS

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

1976 ORANGE BOWL RECAP: OU BEATS MICHIGAN TO WIN NATIONAL TITLE

ONE OF NATION'S TOUGHEST SCHEDULES

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Michael Boganowski

Deion Burks

Kendal Daniels

Courtland Guillory

Marvin Jones Jr.

Jaren Kanak

Keontez Lewis

John Mateer

Sammy Omosigho

Jaydn Ott

Eddy Pierre-Louis

Isaiah Sategna III

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics