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February 16, 2012

Schedule complete with UTEP, Fla. A&M and Notre Dame

By John Shinn The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — It didn’t take long for Oklahoma to fill in the gaps in its non-conference schedule for the 2012 football season.

The Sooners officially announced their three games out of conference on Wednesday, completing the 12-game slate.

OU will open the season at Texas-El Paso on Sept. 1 and host Florida A&M on Sept. 8 in the home opener.

The final non-conference will be Oct. 27 when Notre Dame comes to Owen Field.

“We have a philosophy of playing a challenging schedule on a yearly basis that puts our team in the best possible situation to make a run at a championship,” OU Head Coach Bob Stoops said in a statement. “I know that Joe Castiglione puts our program’s best interests at the forefront when scheduling our opponents and it shows with the quality of teams on our schedule.

“We look forward to another challenging year and hope our fans reflect the excitement we have for this year’s schedule.”

The trip to El Paso, Texas, will mark the Sooners’ first ever for a regular-season game.

Twice OU has ended seasons with games in the Sun Bowl, which the city hosts. The last trip was the end of the end of the 2009 season when OU topped Stanford, 31-27.

The game will mark OU’s third meeting with the Miners. The Sooners beat them in 2002 (58-0) and 2000 (55-14) at Owen Field.

The home opener against Florida A&M will mark the first meeting between the schools.

After four Big 12 Conference games, OU hosts its final non-conference foe as it welcomes Notre Dame to Owen Field, for the first time since 1966, on Oct. 27.

The historic programs have faced each other nine times with the Fighting Irish owning an 8-1 series lead.

The last meeting between the two teams came on Oct. 2, 1999, a game Notre Dame won 34-30 in South Bend, Ind. The two have played a total of four times in Norman with Notre Dame capturing all four games, the last a 38-0 win on Oct. 22, 1966.

John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com

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