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SEC Network Brings Pregame Show Back to Norman for Ole Miss Game

The Sooners and Rebels tangle this weekend for a Southeastern Conference game at Owen Field, and the league's popular pregame show will be back on the OU campus.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma mascot Sooner greets fans before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Auburn Tigers at Gaylord Family Ð Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.
Oklahoma mascot Sooner greets fans before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Auburn Tigers at Gaylord Family Ð Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

SEC Nation is coming back to Norman.

SEC Network’s weekly, traveling pre-game show, "SEC Nation," Presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, hits the road to Norman to cover all the action between No. 5 Ole Miss and No. 14 Oklahoma. 

The show will originate from the Party at the Palace from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 25, on SEC Network.

Saturday’s show will be the second time this season that "SEC Nation" originates live from the Norman campus after Oklahoma joined the conference in 2024. The network staged the popular pregame show from the South Oval prior to the Sooners’ home game with Auburn on Sept. 20. The Sooners won that game 24-17 in Jackson Arnold's return to Norman.

Both teams come into this week's action 6-1 overall. Oklahoma (2-1 in SEC play) is coming off an impressive 26-7 road win at South Carolina, while the Rebels (3-1) are coming off their first loss of the season, a 45-37 setback at No. 9 Georgia. The game kicks off at 11 a.m.

OU and Ole Miss met in a regular-season SEC clash at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford last season. Oklahoma led 14-10 at halftime but Lane Kiffin's squad rallied to a 26-14 victory over Brent Venables' Sooners. The Sooners and Rebels also played in the 1999 Independence Bowl, Bob Stoops' first bowl game and the Sooners' return to the postseason after four years without a bowl trip. Ole Miss won that contest 27-25 as Stoops' first team finished the year with a 7-5 record.

Ole Miss brings one of the nation’s most prolific offenses. The Rebels rank No. 8 nationally in total offense (491.9 yards per game), No. 8 in passing offense (304.1) and 16th in scoring (37.4 points per game). They also rank in the top 16 nationally in third down conversions, fourth down conversions and total first downs.

Laura Rutledge hosts "SEC Nation," her ninth season in the host’s chair and her 10th on the show overall, joined by Paul Finebaum, Roman Harper, Jordan Rodgers  and  Tim Tebow  for a weekly breakdown of the SEC football action to come.

Additionally, "Marty & McGee," Presented by Old Trapper, will be live on Saturday morning from 8-9 a.m., as Marty Smith and Ryan McGee meet at the intersection of southern lifestyle and college football to bring viewers the latest headlines, Hillbilly and otherwise, across the SEC landscape. "Marty & McGee" is live on the road with "SEC Nation" every Saturday this fall.

Party at the Palace will also be home to "The Paul Finebaum Show," Presented by Johnsonville, with #FinebaumFriday live from 2-6 p.m.

"SEC Nation" returns to SEC college football tailgates, stadiums and sidelines each week this fall.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN 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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