Temple and Oklahoma reschedule 2024 football season opener, will air on ESPN
The matchup will be the first Friday night game at Oklahoma's Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
When Temple’s football program first announced its schedule, one of the biggest games was the Owls’ season-opening battle with the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Okla. Originally scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 31, the two schools announced that the game will now be played Friday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m.
Oklahoma Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione says the change was made after ESPN asked the school to consider moving the date of the game.
“We were asked to consider moving up the season opener by a day so ESPN could televise our first game as a member of the SEC in a prime time window,” said Castiglione in a release from the university. “It’s a unique and exciting opportunity for us, as it will be our first Friday night game in the history of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and will give our team tremendous visibility nationally. Another major plus is, given the kick time, our players and fans should benefit from a cooler temperature.”
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The Owls, who won just three games for the third straight season in 2023, will face a Sooners team was ranked 12th in the final College Football Playoff poll. The Sooners, who finished last season with a 10-3 record, ended 2023 with a 38-24 loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl.
Temple has a 1-1 all-time record against the Sooners with their previous matchup coming in 1942.
This is the first game in a three-game series the two schools agreed upon in 2016. The 2025 scheduled meeting will take place at Lincoln Financial Field and the series returns to Norman for the 2028 season.
The Owls will start and end their regular season with night games in 2024. Temple’s regular season finale, at Texas San Antonio, will be played on Friday, November 22.