While seemingly everyone in the sport is looking to push games back, Oklahoma is actually looking to move its football opener up.
Oklahoma is currently scheduled to open the 2020 college football season at home in Norman against FCS Missouri State Sept. 5. According to The Oklahoman, however, OU is looking to move that matchup up a week, to Aug. 29. Reportedly, the FCS school is amenable to such a move.
The reasoning behind such a waiver?OU athletic director Joe Castiglione’s rationale in this pandemic-stricken year is that moving the opener would give OU an off week after each of its first two games, which could be valuable with the testing of players for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
With constant testing and the subsequent contact tracing for those exposed, teams face a season with frequent quarantines and isolation of players who either have the virus or have been exposed to it.
At the moment, Oklahoma is scheduled to face Tennessee at Memorial Stadium Sept. 12. Then coming off a bye, OU would travel
All of this, of course, is contingent on there actually being non-conference games in the sport. The Big Ten was the first conference-only scheduling domino to fall. The ACC and Pac-12 are expected to follow suit. The Sooners’ conference, the Big 12, likely won’t make a decision on that front until the end of this month. The same goes for the SEC as well.