Will Oklahoma Continue to Play Marquee Non-Conference Games in the Future?

NORMAN — Future college football schedules take center stage in the offseason.

As conference realignment has shuffled the deck, there is an imbalance in schedule strength across the country.

That has led some programs to shift future schedules, eliminating marquee non-conference matchups in favor of loading up on home games to minimize risk in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee.

Oklahoma has a rich history of playing in massive non-conference matchups.

Former athletic director Joe Castiglione inked deals that saw the Sooners host and travel to take on Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Florida State, Miami, Nebraska, UCLA and others.

OU will head to Ann Arbor on Sept. 12 this year for the return trip of last year’s battle with Michigan, and Oklahoma has a home-and-home series with Nebraska (2029 and 2030) and Clemson (2035 and 2036) on the books, though the Sooners’ scheduling philosophy may change under new athletic director Roger Denny.

“I value (marquee non-conference matchups),” Denny told a group of local reporters on Thursday. “But at the same time, I hate when we only play six home games. And so it’s really hard to find opportunities to play marquee opponents and not put ourselves in a position where we’re only playing six home games.”

He was candid, admitting it’s a topic that he struggles with.

“I like the idea of marquee non-conference games. I really like that idea if we move into an environment where the playoff rewards that,” Denny said.

“Today, the playoff is not rewarding those things. And if they’re not going to, then I’m going to lean towards I want to play seven home games. If we get to a point where the rewards are there where if you’re playing marquee opponents and that doesn’t cause more harm than good when it comes time to see who gets selected for the postseason, maybe my mind changes on that.”

Denny left every avenue open for the future schedule to change, but he also laid out the financial reality that would come with getting out of future non-conference contracts.

“All of this stuff works together, right? Like, you guys have heard me say how big of a struggle it is to find the resources to pay for the priorities that I’ve got today. Am I going to find the resources to pay for those priorities and cancel the game and go get a new game? It’s really hard,” Denny said.

Last week, Oklahoma announced that Utah State will fill out the 2027 non-conference schedule, which includes a battle with one of the newest members of the Power 4, SMU, in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, and a matchup with San Diego State.

Brent Venables, who saw his contract extended on Thursday pending approval from the OU Board of Regents, has notched non-conference victories over the Cornhuskers and the Wolverines.

The Sooners are slated to travel to Houston in 2028 to fulfill the SEC’s current requirement to play one Power 4 team out of conference before the Nebraska home-and-home begins in Norman in 2029.

Ever-changing CFP negotiations and different scheduling models from other conferences could change things in the future, but Denny is focused on setting the Sooners up to have the best path possible to the CFP.

"Right now, we’re unbalanced. Right? I think even if you would see the Big Ten add the 10th game, I think that would change the market a little bit," Denny said. "But when you look up and see what some of those schedules look like and it’s not impacting their access to the playoff, why are we doing that to ourselves?"

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