All Sooners

SEC Players Give Oklahoma Preview of Road Games in New Conference

At SEC Media Days, a number of players were asked about what the Sooners can expect on the road in their new league.

Randall Sweet

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY
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DALLAS — With Oklahoma making its jump to the SEC this offseason, many national media members and observers have pondered how the Sooners will hold up in college football's toughest conference.

The talent level in the SEC will certainly be a step up from what OU faced in the Big 12, as Brent Venables' team is set to meet six of ESPN's Preseason Top 15 teams during the regular season.

Gone are the days of the Sooners traveling to Ames, Manhattan and Lubbock, as Oklahoma will head to Auburn, Oxford and Baton Rouge this year.

Aside from the physicality and skill level on the field, SEC fan bases are seemingly much larger and more lively than those in the Big 12.

With tougher teams and tougher places to play, the Sooners will be in for a huge adjustment during their inaugural season in the SEC.

"Playing on the road in the SEC is very difficult. Every single game is going to be packed out," Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said. "It's going to be loud. It's going to be difficult. There's going to be communication problems, but you handle that in practice. You practice that. Then once you get in the game, you're comfortable with it. But obviously, an SEC schedule is very difficult. ... It's different when you're in the heat of it. When you're thrown into the fire and you have to be the one to (extinguish) the fire."

In the Big 12, Oklahoma had the second-largest stadium in the conference behind only the Texas Longhorns. In the SEC, however, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium ranks ninth in stadium capacity behind Texas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU and Texas A&M.

While the Sooners may not have the biggest venue in their new conference, EA's College Football 25 still believes OU has one of the best home environments in the country, ranking Owen Field No. 8 on its list of toughest places to play.

This season, Oklahoma will have to play in a handful of other impressive atmospheres on the road as the team travels to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium and LSU's Tiger Stadium for big-time road matchups.

In addition to the talk of Jordan-Hare being "cursed" at SEC Media Days, the Tigers' home stadium is a tough atmosphere in general. Aside from Beck, a number of other players talked about how rowdy the fans can be at Auburn.

"I feel like Oklahoma should expect loud fans, loud stadiums, tough, hard-nosed, physical opponents, and just good games in the SEC," Georgia edge rusher Mykel Williams said. "It's just tough in the SEC. I'd say my toughest road game probably had to be Auburn from last year. I went there, it was loud, they (were) very good at home, and when we played, it was a great game there at Auburn."

The Sooners will take on the Tigers in Oklahoma's first-ever SEC road game on Sept. 28.

While Auburn may not be as talented as OU on paper heading into the 2024 season, Venables and company having to play in such a tough road environment early in the season could be bad news for the conference's newcomers, especially after losing road games to Kansas and Oklahoma State in 2023.

When asked about welcoming the Sooners to Jordan-Hare, Auburn defensive lineman Keldric Faulk said the team was excited to show OU that the Tigers have one of the best home environments in the country.

"We're going to welcome them like any other team," Faulk said. "We're going to show them that it's the toughest place to play in college ball. It's not going to be an easy game that you can come in and just walk all over us. No, it's not going to be that. It's going to be something you have to fight for."

The Sooners' next road game will be in Oxford, MS, on Oct. 26 when Oklahoma takes on Lane Kiffin and Mississippi.

The Rebels should be poised for a solid year with Jaxon Dart continuing to mature, Preseason All-SEC wideout Tre Harris back for another season and a number of transfer portal additions on defense.

Ole Miss sits at No. 6 in ESPN's Preseason Top 25 and will be a huge road test for OU in its first year in the SEC. At SEC Media Days, Harris said he is looking forward to the matchup.

"Definitely a great time, for sure," Harris said about the meeting in Oxford. "High intensity football game. A lot of loud fans, for sure. Definitely going to be packed out. I'm excited for them to come to the conference, great games as well."

After playing Ole Miss, the Sooners' penultimate SEC road game for the 2024 season will be in Columbia, MO, where Venables and company will square off against former Big 12 foe Missouri.

With the recent battles on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal between the two programs, OU's matchup against the Tigers will be intriguing and could have a huge impact on the recruiting trail.

One week after facing Alabama at home, Oklahoma will close its regular season slate out against Brian Kelly and LSU in Baton Rouge on Nov. 30 for what could be a massive contest with College Football Playoff implications.

One of the biggest stadiums in all of college football, Tiger Stadium, also known as Death Valley, has earned a reputation as one of the toughest places in the country for opponents to play, especially during night games.

After Sooners' quarterback Jackson Arnold highlighted OU's matchup against the Tigers, saying he was looking forward to playing at Tiger Stadium more than any other venue, quarterback Garrett Nussmeier gave a preview of what Oklahoma can expect on its trip to Louisiana's capital.

"There's no experience like Tiger Stadium at night," Nussmeier said. "Death Valley at night is unlike anything in college football. But I think OU and Texas both, they've already played in games at big stages. I don't think it's going to be anything new to them, but I will say that Death Valley is something special."

While the Sooners will have plenty of talent on their roster this year, OU's new road slate is unlike anything the team has played in years.

With four tough road games on the schedule in 2024, Oklahoma will have to win at least one or two contests in some of the toughest environments in college football to reach its goals for the season.

The Sooners' first season in the SEC kicks off on Aug. 30, when Venables and company take on Temple in a nonconference game in Norman.

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Randall Sweet

RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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