College Football Expert coming to Norman for Sooners vs. Tennessee

Norman, Oklahoma, is the epicenter of college football this week. One of the biggest home games in recent memory for the Oklahoma Sooners has all of the storylines you could possibly imagine.

No. 15 OU (3-0) will host the sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (3-0) in the program’s first conference game as a member of the Southeastern Conference on Saturday night. While both teams are undefeated, the Sooners have stumbled offensively early this year, escaping close calls the last two weeks with lesser opponents. On the other hand, the Volunteers have been mightily impressive all three weeks, sandwiching a ranked win over North Carolina State in between blowouts over Chattanooga and Kent State.

“College GameDay” will be in town for the biggest game of the week, and ESPN and the SEC gave the game a 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff slot for “The SEC on ABC” showcase and the lead broadcast crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe on the call for “Saturday Night Football” in Week 4.

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is OU’s most recent national championship winning quarterback and served as an assistant coach for ten years under former head coach Bob Stoops . The final four years of his time in Norman came as the offensive coordinator, before he was fired following the 2014 season. Heupel has rebounded extremely well, becoming the head coach at UCF in 2018 before taking his current gig in 2021. He’s in the midst of Year 4 in Knoxville, and he has done an excellent job of reviving the program on Rocky Top.

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables was the co-defensive coordinator on that 2000 national championship team that Heupel helped lead to a title, and the two coached together for seven years on Stoops’ staff. They know each other very well, with Heupel an offensive guru and Venables a defensive mastermind. Venables is entering Year 3 in Norman. He was brought in to lead OU’s transition to the SEC after coaching the defenses at Clemson for two national titles in the 2010s.

Starting quarterbacks Jackson Arnold and Nico Imaleavea are former five-star prospects in the 2023 class who are in the midst of their first seasons as full-time starters after waiting behind veterans last season. Saturday will mark the fifth career start for each young, talented QB.

Add that both teams run very similar offensive schemes and have shown off remarkable defenses over the past three weeks and you’ve got a doozy on your hands.

In case that wasn’t enough, there’s one more name that has decided he can’t miss Oklahoma-Tennessee.

247Sports college football analyst Josh Pate, who hosts “ Josh Pate’s College Football Show ” will make his first trip to an OU home game on Saturday. Pate famously tours the country, going to the biggest college football game of the week every week. For Week 4, he’s taking his “Whole New Saturday Tour” to Norman to watch the Sooners battle the Volunteers.

One of the biggest games of the entire college football season is almost here. It’s a massive opportunity on a nationally televised stage for the Sooners to make their first big statement as a member of the SEC.

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