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OU-Tennessee is Officially Canceled

Vols were scheduled to come to Norman on Sept. 12, but the SEC on Thursday implemented a 10-game, conference-only football schedule for 2020
John E. Hoover|
OU-Tennessee is Officially Canceled
OU-Tennessee is Officially Canceled

The Coronavirus shutdown has officially struck Oklahoma’s 2020 schedule.

Tennessee will not be in Norman on Sept. 12 as scheduled as the Southeastern Conference will resort to a 10-game, conference-only schedule this fall, according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.

The report says the SEC will begin the 2020 season on Sept. 26, rather than the scheduled Sept. 5 start. Teams will play their six divisional opponents, plus the usual two opponents from the other division, and will now add two interdivisional opponents.

Additional details of the SEC’s plan were not immediately available.

Oklahoma’s game against Tennessee was one of the Big 12 Conference’s premier non-conference games in 2020. Another was Texas’ Sept. 12 matchup with defending national champion LSU in Baton Rouge. Baylor’s Sept. 5 game against Ole Miss at Houston and Vanderbilt’s Sept. 19 game at Kansas State are also off the table.

The Big 12 had 11 games scheduled against opponents from other Power 5 leagues.

The league had rescheduled its 2020 media day to a virtual model on Monday, but canceled that on Monday as the SEC’s news came out. Kansas State coach Chris Klieman told reporters on a video conference call that he had “an emergency” meeting with other coaches scheduled for Thursday.

It’s unknown if the Big 12 will continue to try to play a 12-game schedule and replace games against the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC, or if the Big 12 will follow those leagues and implement a 10-game model.

The Sooners are still scheduled to host FCS Missouri State on Aug. 29 and visit Army on Sept. 26.

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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.

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