SEC announces start time for Oklahoma-Ole Miss game

NORMAN – Oklahoma will play its game on Saturday, Oct. 26, against Ole Miss in Oxford at 11 a.m., 247Sports’ Tom Green first reported Monday afternoon.

According to Green’s report, the game will air on ESPN or ABC, and its designation will be announced after Week 8.

Ole Miss won the only previous meeting between the Sooners and Rebels, 27–25 on December 31, 1999 in the Independence Bowl in Bob Stoops’ first season as OU’s head coach and Brent Venables’ first season as defensive coordinator. The Sooners won their next 20 consecutive games, including the 2000 national title game against third-ranked Florida State, and won 11 or more games in each of the subsequent five seasons.

Oklahoma (4-2)’s matchup with Ole Miss will be the first kickoff this season and the first head-to-head matchup between the programs as members of the Southeastern Conference. It will also be the Sooners’ first trip to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and its 65,000 fans. The Rebels (5-2) dropped nine spots to No. 18 in this week’s AP poll following a 29-26 overtime loss to LSU on Saturday. The Sooners fell from No. 18 to unranked after a 34-3 loss to No. 1 Texas in Dallas.

Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin talked about Oklahoma and Texas joining the Southeastern Conference at SEC Media Days in July.

“You talk about two of the top programs in the history of college football (OU and Texas), and then when I look at things too, like I said before, places that are really difficult to play, and then you have these night games filtered and in places it is very difficult to play with fan bases like Oklahoma and Texas. This is really exciting for the conference and continues to elevate the super conference.”

The matchup will be Venables and Kiffin’s first meeting as head coaches, but the two have coached against each other several times in subordinate roles. Venables led Clemson’s defense while Kiffin orchestrated Alabama’s offense in the Crimson Tide’s 45-40 victory over the Tigers in the 2016 College Football Playoff Championship. Kiffin was on the USC team in 2005 when the Trojans defeated Oklahoma, whose defense was under Venables’ direction, 55-19 in the BCS title game.

The Sooners will host their first home game in nearly a month. Kick-off is scheduled for 11:45 am.