Skip to main content
All Sooners

Oklahoma finalizes 2021 non-con schedule

Sooners visit Tulane, host Western Carolina and Nebraska
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma finalizes 2021 non-con schedule
Oklahoma finalizes 2021 non-con schedule

Oklahoma formally announced its 2021 football schedule on Monday.

The Sooners open the season on the road at a Group of 5 opponent, play an FCS team who's playing its 2020 schedule this spring, and revisit one of college football's most historic rivalries.

SI Sooners previously detailed the 2021 schedule two weeks ago, but today it became official.

OU opens Sept. 4 at Tulane — at 30,000-seat Yulman Stadium in New Orleans — then host FCS Western Carolina on Sept. 11 before closing the non-conference slate with former conference rival Nebraska Sept. 18 in Norman.

  • Sept. 4: at Tulane
  • Sept. 11: Western Carolina  
  • Sept. 18: Nebraska
  • TBA: at Baylor
  • TBA: Texas (at Dallas)
  • TBA: Iowa State
  • TBA: at Oklahoma State
  • TBA: Texas Tech
  • TBA: at Kansas
  • TBA: TCU
  • TBA: at Kansas State
  • TBA: West Virginia

Tulane, of the American Athletic Conference, went 6-6 last season and played in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. It's OU's eighth game in the state of Louisiana — all in New Orleans. The previous eight were in the Sugar Bowl. In the only other meeting between the schools, OU won 56-14 in 2017. That was the first of a three-game contract; the final game will be in Norman in 2024. It's OU's first time to open a season on with a true road game since 2012, when the Sooners visited UTEP, and first road game at Group of 5 school since playing at Tulsa in 2014. 

OU's game against Western Carolina is its first against the Catamounts. WCU played three road games this season — Liberty, Eastern Kentucky and North Carolina — and went 0-3. The Catamounts adjusted to the pandemic shutdown by moving their schedule from the fall to the spring. They're scheduled to play eight Southern Conference games beginning on Feb. 20.

The OU-Nebraska game rekindles one of college football's most storied rivalries. OU (50) and Nebraska (46) have won more conference championships than any other program, including a run of 44 of 48 in the Big Seven/Big Eight.Their last meeting came in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, when the Sooners overcame a 17-point deficit to win 23-20.

This year's game commemorates the 50th anniversary of the "Game of the Century" meeting in Norman on Nov. 25, 1971. The No. 1-ranked Cornhuskers beat No. 2 Oklahoma 35-31 on Thanksgiving Day.This year's Big 12 Conference schedule will be announced later.

Season tickets can be renewed online at SoonerSports.com. The deadline for renewal is April 30. New ticket inquiries can be made by calling (405) 325-2424 or can be found here.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Football