The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to bounce back as they get ready to go on the road to face the Auburn Tigers. The Sooners are coming off a disappointing loss to the Tennessee Volunteers but showed some things they can build on moving forward.
The updated ESPN Matchup Predictor projects the Sooners to finish the season 6-6, would put them just inside bowl season. It’s a difficult schedule the rest of the way, and the Sooners will have to find a way to beat one of the ranked teams remaining on the schedule to ensure a spot in bowl season.
But as things stand right now, college football analysts still have the Sooners bowling in December. Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports has the Oklahoma Sooners heading to Nashville, Tenn., to play in the Music City Bowl. And they’ll face an old rival. Smith projects the Sooners to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Dec. 30.
The Oklahoma Sooners last faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a home-and-home in 2021 and 2022. The Sooners won in Norman 23-16, highlighted by D.J. Graham’s one-handed interception. In 2022, Brent Venables’ first season at the helm, the Sooners beat the Cornhuskers 49-10, led by Eric Gray’s 110 rushing yards and two touchdown performance.
If the two sides were to face off in bowl season, it could be a matchup between a pair of true freshmen quarterbacks, Michael Hawkins and Dylan Raiola. Hawkins takes over for Jackson Arnold ahead of the Sooners road trip to Auburn. Raiola was named the starting quarterback out of fall camp.
Raiola has looked good for Nebraska, completing 72.2% of his passes for 967 yards, eight touchdowns, and just two interceptions. Hawkins, in his first season in Norman, is completing 59.1% of his passes for 149 yards and a touchdown.
OU and Nebraska is a rivalry as old as there is. The two sides first played in 1912, a 13-9 win for the Cornhuskers. Oklahoma holds the all-time series lead 47-38-3. A rivalry that was at one point one of the biggest in college football has only seen the two teams play twice since Nebraska joined the Big Ten back in 2011.
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Publish date : 2024-09-24 09:03:00
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