Week 0 Preview: Two Oklahoma Opponents Kickoff the Season on Saturday
Game week is still a few days away for the Oklahoma Sooners, but Brent Venables will have some scouting work to accomplish this Saturday.
Nebraska and UTEP, two of OU’s first three opponents, will take the field on Saturday in college football’s “Week 0”.
The Cornhuskers will take a lengthy trip to the British Isles to face off against a conference foe in Northwestern, and UTEP will host Seth Littrell’s North Texas outfit.
Scott Frost hopes the trip to Ireland will provide an opportunity to bring his team closer together, as the maligned head coach hit the transfer portal hard this offseason needing to turn around last year’s 3-9 mark.
Casey Thompson is the new signal-caller after Adrian Martinez departed to Kansas State, but the former Texas quarterback will have to prove he can play at a high level for two halves of football.
In his lone season as a starter, Thompson completed 63.2 percent of his passes, throwing for 2,113 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Against the Sooners, Thompson totaled 388 passing yards and five touchdowns, but the former Oklahoma high school star was unable to generate much offense to help pull the Longhorns out of a massive second half collapse.
New offensive coordinator Mark Whipple will try to help Thompson pick through the Northwestern defense that ranked No. 89-overall in points allowed last season.
Another key transfer in former TCU star Ochaun Mathis will led the way for the Nebraska defensive line in 2022.
He’ll look to get after Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hilinski, who desperately needs a bounce-back season during his second year with the Wildcats.
Last year’s matchup against Northwestern was one of the few good performances for the Cornhuskers, as Frosts’ team dusted the Wildcats 56-7.
Unlike Nebraska, UTEP will try to turn around a defeat from last season in their Week 0 bout.
The Miners lost to North Texas 20-17 last year, but get to host the Mean Green one week before they make the trip to Norman for OU’s season opener.
UTEP quarterback Gavin Hardison staged a late drive against North Texas last year, helping the Miners to a game-tying field goal with 55 seconds left, but UTEP was unable to force overtime.
UTEP quarterback Gavin Hardison
Ivan Pierre Aguirre / USA TODAY Sports
North Texas quarterback Austin Aune completed a 58-yard pass to Detraveon Brown with 10 seconds left and on the next play Ethan Mooney drilled the game winning field goal for the Mean Green.
Both quarterbacks return, though Aune has a quarterback battle on his hands in Denton, and a repeat of last year’s battle could provide great entertainment to the slim Week 0 offerings.
Nebraska and Northwestern will start off the proceedings on Saturday, kicking off at 11:30 a.m. on FOX. UTEP will close the night at 8 p.m., though a television network has yet to pick up the contest to be broadcast.
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