Now this is more like it.
Late Wednesday morning, Oklahoma announced that it has scheduled a future home-and-home series with UCLA. OU will host the Bruins in Norman on Sept. 8, 2018, while the Sooners will travel to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Sept. 14, 2019.
As you’re seeing more and more, the university cited the new College Football Playoff system -- and the strength of schedule that is expected to become imperative -- as a reason behind the series between the Big 12 and Pac-12 schools.
“We’re delighted to again add UCLA’s tradition-rich program to our schedule,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement. “Together, we can showcase two great schools in the kind of intersectional matchup that is so good for college sports. And now our longstanding philosophy of scheduling marquee non-conference opponents becomes even more important with the College Football Playoff beginning in 2014.
“We will continue to schedule games of this kind because they benefit our program competitively and because we believe this approach is best for the sport and our tremendous fan base.”
The two football programs have met four times previously, with the Sooners holding a 3-1 advantage. The last meeting took place in 2005.
The lone downside to the OU-UCLA series is that it will push to the side another marquee set of matchups involving the Sooners. Oklahoma already had an agreed upon home-and-home with LSU scheduled for 2018 and 2019. The release announcing the OU-UCLA series stated that OU and LSU “are currently working to re-schedule” their home-and-home in later years.
(Photo credit: Oklahoma athletics)