Oklahoma-Texas Red River Rivalry Kickoff Time, Network Announced

The early season start times of the Sooners' other non-conference games were also revealed on Thursday.

Oklahoma Sooners Billy Bowman Jr. (2), Kip Lewis (10), Jaren Kanak (7) and Dasan McCullough (1) stop Texas Longhorns Jonathon Brooks (24) / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

NORMAN — The first SEC Red River Rivalry has a date, time and tentative network.

College football insider Brett McMurphy first reported Thursday morning that the 120th edition of Oklahoma-Texas — and first within the Southeastern Conference — will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 12.

Oklahoma & Texas 1st Red River Rivalry as SEC members will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET Oct. 12 on ABC or ESPN, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. OU-Texas is traditionally an 11 a.m. local kick, but moves back to 2:30 p.m. CT - giving fans more time in Dallas to, uhhh, get prepared

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) May 30, 2024

The game, played in Dallas' Cotton Bown, will air either on ABC or ESPN. It will be the first RRR to kick off later than 11 a.m. since 2017, the only time in the previous 13 seasons the historic game didn't kick off in the morning.

Twelfth-ranked Oklahoma spoiled the fun for No. 4 Texas last October 34-30 on Nic Anderson's go-ahead touchdown within the final 30 seconds of the game.

OU's Sept. 7 home game against Houston will kick off at 6:45 p.m. and be televised by the SEC Network, while its Sept. 14 home contest against Tulane will start at 2:30 p.m. and air on ESPN or ESPN2.

In April, it was announced that Oklahoma's season opener against Temple was moved to Friday, Aug. 30, one day earlier than originally scheduled. Kickoff for the contest will be at 6 p.m. and the game will be televised by ESPN.

Oklahoma and Texas formally join the SEC on July 1. OU is coming off a 10-3 season as Brent Venables begins year three as the Sooners' head coach, while Texas is coming off its first College Football Playoff appearance and its first Big 12 championship since 2009.

Oklahoma owns a 3-1 series lead against Houston and will be playing the Cougars for the first time since beating them 49-31 in the 2019 season opener in Norman. The Sooners are 2-0 against Tulane, defeating the Green Wave 56-14 in 2017 and 40-35 in 2021, both in Norman. OU has won 11 of its last 15 meetings against Texas and 17 of its last 25. Since 1971, the Sooners are 30-21-3 against the Longhorns.

 

New this year is the debut of a new scheduling format for SEC games across all ESPN platforms, with the opportunity for teams and fans to know approximate start times for the entire season. Television windows (i.e., "Early" [11 to noon CT start], "Afternoon" [2:30 to 3:30 p.m. CT start] or "Night" [5 to 7 p.m. CT start]) will be announced for all remaining SEC-controlled games on Tuesday, June 11, with select games tagged as "Flex" games for either the "Afternoon" or "Night" windows. SEC Now: Inside the 2024 Schedule premieres at 1 p.m. CT on June 11 to break down the full SEC schedule. Following The Paul Finebaum Show that day, the show will re-air at 7 p.m.

Each SEC institution will continue to play one non-conference game of its choosing on the ESPN+/SEC Network+ digital platform. Remaining games not contained in today's announcement will be released on June 11.

The SEC Championship Game take place on Saturday, Dec. 7, and will kick off at 3 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ABC for the first time since 2000.

2024 OU football ticket mini plans are currently available for season ticket holders to purchase by contacting their OU Athletics representative or the Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424. The Crimson Mini Plan includes the Temple, Tulane, Maine and Alabama games, while the Cream Mini Plan includes the Houston, Tennessee and South Carolina contests. Non-season ticket holders interested in tickets should visit  to be added to a waitlist for when mini plan and/or single-game tickets are available to the public later this summer.

OU Media Relations contributed to this report.