All Sooners

2023 Oklahoma Schedule Preview: BYU

The Sooners are 0-2 all-time against the Cougars, but OU's November trip to Provo will be their first (and perhaps only) meeting in a home setting.

John E. Hoover

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
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As August closes in, AllSooners previews every game on the 2023 schedule.

Oklahoma’s 12-game regular season schedule features six home games, five road games and the annual neutral-site Red River Showdown.

The Sooners' penultimate game of 2023 unfolds in the mountains of Provo, just outside Salt Lake City, to play a team they've never beaten: BYU.

Make no mistake, BYU is ready.

The Cougars have roots in the Western Athletic Conference and have played college football as an independent for the last dozen years.

But BYU is ready for its moment in the Big 12 spotlight. As an independent, the Cougs have played the likes of Stanford, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Oregon, Baylor, Virginia, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, USC, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Cal, Mississippi State, LSU, Michigan State, West Virginia, UCLA, Missouri, Michigan, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Oregon State, Texas, Ole Miss and, of course, Utah — 55 games in all against Power 5 conference opponents, and won 25 of them.

“This isn't going to be easy,” head coach Kalani Sitake said at Big 12 Media Days, “and we know that. That's why as independents, I told Tom (athletic director Tom Holmo), ‘Find as many as you can that people don't want to play; I want to play them all,’ with the thought that possibly this could be the goal.

Oklahoma's 2023 Schedule

“Now that we're here, there's a high sense of urgency for us to get ready to go, and I feel really good about the progress that we've made as a team in the last couple years.”

Since LaVell Edwards’ hire in 1972, only nine programs — Ohio State, Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, Penn State, Georgia, USC, Florida and Boise State — have more winning seasons than BYU. In that span, the Cougars rank eighth nationally with 438 wins.

The future in Provo, however, is now. Sitake hasn’t wasted any time in building up the roster, with 27 incoming freshmen and 28 transfers, including 16 FBS arrivals via the NCAA Transfer Portal — 55 newcomers since the end of last season.

Sitake’s aspirations for 2023 are not timid.

“Well, I mean, I'm looking at the last six (Big 12) teams that played for championships here (at AT&T Stadium) in the last three years, and there's a lot of parity there,” he said, noting Oklahoma, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Baylor, TCU and Kansas State’s trips to the Big 12 title game. “I’m hoping that our team can add to that. Everyone wants to win, and my goal is to get us to perform at our best 12 times. If we do it the way that I hope, I think that will earn us more opportunities to play on this field again.”

Foremost among BYU’s transfers is quarterback Kedon Slovis, a former starter at both USC and Pittsburgh. Slovis has nearly 10,000 passing yards in his 37 career starts.

Elsewhere on offense, Aidan Robbins is expected to win the RB1 job after running for 1,009 yards at UNLV last year; Deion Smith led Colorado in rushing in 2022, and wideout Darius Lassiter (Eastern Michigan) and Keelon Marion (UConn) have a proven track record of productivity. BYU also added six offensive linemen, including former Oklahoma State starter Caleb Etienne.

Get to Know BYU

Nov. 18, LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT

  • Series: BYU leads series 2-0.
  • Head coach: Kalani Sitake, 8th year (56-34)
  • 2022 record: 8-5
  • 2022 offense: 35th overall (48th rushing, 48th passing, 43st scoring)
  • 2022 defense: 93rd overall (97th rushing, 81st passing, 96th scoring)

On defense, newcomers from Boise State (defensive end Isaiah Bagnah and defensive tackle Jackson Cravens), Utah State (the Aggies’ leading tackler, A.J. Vongphachanh) and one from Oregon (linebacker Harrison Taggart) should help roster a defense that ranked 93rd nationally overall and 96th in points allowed.

They join a BYU team that is 29-9 the last three seasons, went 8-5 last year and brings back six starters on offense and nine players with significant starting experience on defense.

It’s that defense that Sitake went about revamping in the offseason, hiring Jay Hill from FCS powerhouse Weber State (10-3 overall last year with the No. 14-ranked defense). Hill and Sitake brought in three defensive assistants as well.

“I think our players are really excited about it, the change, and I'm excited to have Jay Hill there with me,” Sitake said. “He's also been a head coach before, so he knows some of the things that we go through as head coaches. He's been a great resource for me to go to for advice and guidance, and he happens to be on my staff. I'm lucky to coach with these guys.”

BYU may not compete for the conference title right away, but Sitake’s plan is to be there sooner than later. To support that notion, he said he and his staff have seen “an uptick in recruiting” since the Big 12 announced its expansion last year.

“I think it increases (or) maybe gets a little bit of curiosity for
people that never thought about BYU as a destination to
play,” Sitake said. “What they do is look into it and find out what they're
aligned with what I'm aligned with.”

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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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