When Oklahoma University (OU) and the University of Texas announced in the summer of 2021 that they would leave Big 12 competition to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC), significant changes in scheduling were imminent.
On September 14, SEC officials announced that the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee have been advised to postpone games against OU.
“The Southeastern Conference has directed the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee to postpone scheduled football games versus Oklahoma because the transition of Oklahoma into the SEC will not allow for the involved institutions to fulfill their respective contractual non-conference home-and-home appearance obligations,” a letter from the SEC reads.
“Because the second non-conference game in each of the Georgia-Oklahoma and Tennessee-Oklahoma series is scheduled to take place after Oklahoma joins the SEC in 2025, the Conference is directing the postponement of the Georgia at Oklahoma game in 2023 and the Oklahoma at Tennessee game in 2024 until such time that those matchups become part of the Conference rotation of games in future years.”
The loss of two of the conference’s highest-ranking teams sent Big 12 officials scrambling to find options to fill football schedules after 2025, when the conference will drop to only eight schools.
The University of Cincinnati, the University of Central Florida, the University of Houston, and Brigham Young University have since agreed to join the Big 12, which will return the conference to 12 teams.
Southern Methodist University (SMU) announced on Wednesday that the Mustangs would travel to Norman to face Oklahoma in 2023, filling the spot vacated by the loss of the game against Georgia. Ball State will fill the same spot by playing Georgia. Games involving Tennessee have not yet been filled.
Texas does not have any games currently scheduled with SEC opponents that would create contractual conflicts once the Longhorns join the conference.
While 2025 is expected to be the most reasonable date for the two campuses to switch conferences, there are some scenarios that could see one or both make the change sooner. The biggest obstacle at this time is media rights contracts that the teams have agreed to with national broadcast companies.
Oklahoma and SMU have not played against one another since 1995 but have met a total of seven times since 1925. After playing in Norman next season, the Sooners will have a game scheduled against SMU again in 2027. OU owns a 5-1-1 advantage historically over SMU.
“We’re grateful to be able to fill the Georgia scheduling gap with the series against SMU, a program that has won 25 games over the last three seasons,” OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione said in a statement. “Special thanks to SMU Athletics Director Rick Hart for his cooperation during this shift in scheduling.”
The contest between OU and Georgia had been considered one of the premier match-ups of the 2023 non-conference schedule.
The Oklahoman reports that sources with the team said discussions had been ongoing in an effort to find a way that the teams could play, but ultimately, the decision to end the series was the only viable option.
