Oklahoma moves up season opener, creating a bye before Tennessee matchup

A new wrinkle has been added to the upcoming Tennessee-Oklahoma matchup in week two. The Sooners officially moved up their week one matchup against Missouri State this weekend after receiving a waiver from the NCAA. Their week one game will now take place on August 29th, creating a bye week before their game hosting the Volunteers on September 12th.

Tennessee is set to open with Charlotte on September 5th in Knoxville.

Why the move? According to Barry Tramel, Oklahoma wanted more time in between early season matchups to monitor the COVID-19 situation.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione’s rationale in this pandemic-stricken year is that moving the opener would give OU an off week after each of its first two games, which could be valuable with the testing of players for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The Sooners also have a bye week after Tennessee and before Army.

Of course, the situation remains fluid. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have already opted to go with a non-conference only schedule this fall, canceling several big matchups on the college football calendar. For now, the SEC, Big 12 and ACC have kept their non-conference matchups in tact.

You can probably expect more changes in the coming days with the SEC Presidents set to meet this week.