One of the most anticipated games on the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2024 schedule is on September 21.
It’s OU’s first SEC conference game, and one of college football’s most historic programs comes to town. The Tennessee Volunteers will be in Norman, as will one of its most well-known alumni.
Peyton Manning, an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, led the Volunteers before being selected first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. He informed his former NFL teammate Pat McAfee on “The Pat McAfee Show” that he will be in attendance at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
“I’m going to the Tennessee-Oklahoma game in Norman this year,” the two-time Super Bowl champion revealed. “I believe it is Oklahoma’s first Southeastern Conference game; they are facing my Tennessee Vols in Norman, not far from Denver (where Manning lives).”
Manning went on to say he is thrilled for the Sooners and Texas Longhorns to join the SEC and believes they will both fit in. He also expressed his excitement for the new rivalries that would emerge in the league.
Oklahoma-Tennessee will be an important game for a variety of reasons, as the SEC returns to Owen Field in conference play. Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel led the Sooners to the national championship in 2000 (when Brent Venables coached a suffocating defense), and he was the Sooners’ offensive coordinator from 2011 to 2014. After being dismissed, he’s built a successful career for himself, landing on Rocky Top and reviving a sleeping giant in Knoxville.
Expect fireworks in Norman that evening, as two explosive offenses will be spearheaded by first-year players Jackson Arnold and Nico Iamaleava, both five-star prospects in the 2023 class.
Maybe one (or both) of those quarterbacks will deliver a stunning performance in front of one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever wear a chinstrap.
