Sooners get their schedule
The plan is still to move forward toward playing a college football season, and the Big 12 took that next step by releasing a revised schedule for the 2020 season Wednesday morning.
A day removed from the Big Ten and the Pac-12 conferences postponing the fall season because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and advice from their medical experts, the Big 12 is in line right now with the SEC and ACC in attempting to play a 2020 season.
“Ultimately, our student-athletes have indicated their desire to compete in the sports they love this season and it is up to all of us to deliver a safe, medically sound, and structured academic and athletic environment for accomplishing that outcome,” said Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby in a press release.
The revised schedule is a 9+1 format, meaning Oklahoma will start at home against Missouri State on Sept. 12, before entering Big 12 play at home vs. Kansas State on Sept. 26.
OU has worked with Missouri State for the last several months in trying to make sure the COVID-19 testing protocols were up to standard, and it’s not a shock to see the Sooners and Bears still scheduled.
The Big 12 announced it will have enhanced COVID-19 testing that includes three tests per week in high contact sports like football, volleyball and soccer. Additionally, return to play protocols after positive occurrences will include an EKG, troponin blood test, echocardiogram, and cardiac MRI, said the release.
“The virus continues to evolve and medical professionals are learning more with each passing week,” Bowlsby said. “Opinions vary regarding the best path forward, as we’ve seen throughout higher education and our society overall, but we are comfortable in our institutions’ ability to provide a structured training environment, rigorous testing and surveillance, hospital quality sanitation and mitigation practices that optimize the health and safety of our student-athletes.
“We believe all of this combines to create an ideal learning and training situation during this time of COVID-19.”
The Sooners were originally going to begin Big 12 action at home against Baylor but now will host KSU to kick off the conference slate. OU-Texas remains Oct. 10 at the Cotton Bowl despite the Texas State Fair already being canceled.
Other notable changes include Bedlam at home vs. Oklahoma State going from the rare October game (Oct. 24) to being pushed back four weeks at Nov. 21.
The schedule is set up for each school to have at least two bye weeks, with the potential of a third one if needed because of COVID-19. The plan is for the Big 12 championship game to be Dec. 12, but it’s possible it could move to Dec. 19.
The conference did not make a ruling on stadium capacities, saying it will be up to each school to determine the best course of action.
OU began preseason camp July 31 before hitting pause after its fifth overall practice Saturday. The Sooners are expected to return to campus Friday for another round of COVID-19 testing before fully returning to preseason camp.
OU’s original Big 12 order:
vs Baylor
vs Texas (Dallas)
at ISU
vs OSU
at TCU
at WVU
vs KSU
vs KU
at TTech
Now:
vs. KSU
at ISU
vs. UT (Dallas)
Bye
at TCU
at TTech
vs. KU
Bye
vs. OSU
at WVU
vs. Baylor