The hype was unreal. Everyone in Norman knew the move to the SEC was going to be a "welcome to the big leagues" moment, but looking back at the ou sooners football schedule 2024, it’s clear that reality hit a lot harder than the preseason predictions suggested.
Brent Venables and his squad didn't just walk into a tougher conference; they walked into a buzzsaw.
We’re talking about a season where a 6-7 record became the final tally. For a program that measures success in double-digit wins and Big 12 trophies, that’s a tough pill to swallow. But if you actually look at the gauntlet they ran, it sort of makes sense. This wasn't your father's Big 12 schedule. There were no "get-right" games once September ended. Honestly, the 2024 season felt like one long lesson in what SEC depth actually looks like.
The Early Hope and the Non-Conference Warmup
Oklahoma started things off looking like the powerhouse we expected. They opened the season on August 30th by absolutely dismantling Temple 51-3. It was a Friday night under the lights at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, and for a few hours, everything felt right. Jackson Arnold was the guy. The defense looked fast.
Then came Houston.
That September 7th game was... weird. Oklahoma won 16-12, but it felt like a loss to a lot of fans. The offense stagnated. People started whispering about the offensive line. By the time they beat Tulane 34-19 the following week, the excitement was tempered by a growing realization that this team had some massive holes to plug before conference play started.
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Welcome to the SEC: The Meat of the Schedule
September 21, 2024. Mark it down. That was the day the SEC officially arrived in Norman, and it came in the form of Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers.
Seeing Heupel—the guy who led OU to its last national title—coaching against the Sooners on Owen Field was surreal. Tennessee’s defense was a nightmare. They sacked Jackson Arnold repeatedly, eventually leading to him being benched for true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. The 25-15 loss wasn't just a defeat; it was a changing of the guard at quarterback.
The ou sooners football schedule 2024 didn't offer any breathing room after that.
- Auburn (Away): A gritty 27-21 win that gave fans hope. Hawkins Jr. showed serious guts in his first start on the road.
- Texas (Neutral): The Red River Rivalry was a disaster. A 34-3 blowout in Dallas. It was the most lopsided loss in years and exposed the gap between OU and the elite tier of their new conference.
- South Carolina (Home): Total collapse. A 35-9 loss where the offense turned the ball over on the first three possessions.
- Ole Miss (Away): A 26-14 loss in Oxford where the defense played well enough to win, but the offense just couldn't find the end zone.
It was a four-game stretch that effectively ended any hope of a playoff run. You've got to wonder how different things might have been if the injury bug hadn't bitten the wide receiver room so hard. Nic Anderson and Jalil Farooq were supposed to be the engines of this offense, but they were barely on the field.
Breaking Down the 2024 Results
| Date | Opponent | Result | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 | Temple | Win | 51-3 |
| Sep 7 | Houston | Win | 16-12 |
| Sep 14 | Tulane | Win | 34-19 |
| Sep 21 | Tennessee | Loss | 15-25 |
| Sep 28 | @ Auburn | Win | 27-21 |
| Oct 12 | Texas | Loss | 3-34 |
| Oct 19 | South Carolina | Loss | 9-35 |
| Oct 26 | @ Ole Miss | Loss | 14-26 |
| Nov 2 | Maine | Win | 59-14 |
| Nov 9 | @ Missouri | Loss | 23-30 |
| Nov 23 | Alabama | Win | 24-3 |
| Nov 30 | @ LSU | Loss | 17-37 |
| Dec 27 | Navy (Bowl) | Loss | 20-21 |
The November Rollercoaster
After a palette-cleansing 59-14 win over Maine, the Sooners headed to Columbia to face old Big 12 rival Missouri. It was a heartbreaker. A 30-23 loss that ended on a defensive touchdown for Mizzou.
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But then, the unthinkable happened.
On November 23rd, a struggling Oklahoma team welcomed Alabama to Norman. Nobody gave the Sooners a chance. Seriously, the betting lines were ugly. But the defense played the game of their lives, suffocating Jalen Milroe and the Tide offense for a shocking 24-3 upset. It was the high point of the year. It proved that the "DNA" Venables talks about is there—it's just inconsistent.
The regular season ended with a thud in Death Valley, losing 37-17 to LSU.
The Armed Forces Bowl and Lessons Learned
Ending the year at 6-6 led the Sooners to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against Navy on December 27th. In what felt like a microcosm of the whole season, OU struggled to find an identity and lost a 21-20 nail-biter to the Midshipmen.
So, what did we learn from the ou sooners football schedule 2024?
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First, the offensive line is the priority. You cannot survive the SEC without five monsters up front. Second, the defense is actually legitimate. Despite the win-loss record, the Sooners' defense under Venables has become a unit that can keep them in almost any game.
The schedule was ranked as one of the top ten hardest in the country for a reason. Playing Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama, and LSU in the same year is a gauntlet that would break most teams.
Moving forward, the focus has to be on recruitment in the trenches. The 2024 season was a "growing pains" year. It was ugly at times, and the 6-7 finish is going to be a talking point for a long time. But for those who watched every snap, the Alabama win showed the ceiling. Now, they just have to figure out how to live there.
To prepare for the 2025 season, fans should keep a close eye on the transfer portal—specifically looking for experienced offensive linemen. The schedule doesn't get much easier next year, and the lessons learned from 2024 will either be the foundation for a comeback or the start of a very long adjustment period in the SEC.