Big 12 Media Days: Cincinnati Excited to Open in 'Electric' Atmosphere Against Oklahoma

The Bearcats will host the Oklahoma Sooners in their first ever Big 12 contest on Sept. 23.

ARLINGTON, TX — Cincinnati won’t have to wait long to make new friends in the Big 12.

The Bearcats will open a new era — both with a new head coach in a new conference — by hosting the Oklahoma Sooners.

“What a way to start Big 12 play against a team like Oklahoma,” Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said at Big 12 Media Days on Thursday.

When the Big 12 schedule was finally released, Satterfield’s eyes were drawn to the first two games of the year — a date with OU and then a trip to BYU on a short week.

“I looked at that and said, ‘Oh okay,’” Satterfield said. “’They’re gonna send us one of the more recognizable teams in the country to play the first game.’ I thought that’s exciting.

… To be your first game in the Big 12 to play a team like that with so much history, Heisman Trophy winners in the past, really have done some exciting things in the game of football for a long time.”

Fresh off a 6-7 season in Brent Venables’ first year at the helm, the Sooners will have plenty of questions to answer in 2023.

But Satterfield’s new Cincinnati regime brings their own difficulties.

Luke Fickell, the coach broke barriers by taking the Bearcats to the 2021 College Football Playoff, left for Wisconsin and Cincinnati’s roster was ravaged by the transfer portal.

“We have one scholarship player on our team now that was with the team last fall,” Satterfield said. “… We had a couple of guys get drafted and several others that they got in the portal before we got the transition before getting hired.”

Satterfield’s rebuild would be difficult under normal circumstances, not to mention having to lead the program into a new conference.

OU’s arrival will bring a different energy to Nippert Stadium, however, something Satterfield hopes the team will be able to feed off of.

“To bring them to our stadium, we know that’s gonna be a hot ticket,” he said. “We know it’s going to be very electric. But as a coach I also am thinking well we’ve got three games before that. We have to be ready for those three prior to playing Oklahoma.

“… We just want to be competitive. We got to go out there and put a team out there that’s gonna be very competitive, fight their butts off to go out there and try and get a win.”

---

• Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!
• Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!
• Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news!
• Want even more Sooners news? Check out the SI.com OU team page here!
• Listen and subscribe to the AllSooners Podcast!
• Watch more Sooners videos and subscribe on YouTube!