OU, OSU, Tulsa announce football game times, TV
BY ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Friday, June 15, 2012
6/15/12 at 6:28 AM
Oklahoma's 2012 football season will begin with a late-night kickoff in the West Texas desert.
The Sooners announced Thursday their Sept. 1 opener against the University of Texas-El Paso will kick off at 9:30 p.m. The game will be at the Sun Bowl Stadium and broadcast by Fox Sports.
Oklahoma State also announced the game time for its road trip to Arizona, and Tulsa released eight national television games on Thursday.
A source said the OU-UTEP game was originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. in El Paso) but neither school wanted to play in the afternoon heat.
UTEP hasn't had a September afternoon home game in at least 20 years. The 9:30 p.m. kickoff is the Conference USA school's latest home start since an 8:15 p.m. contest against Texas in 2008.
Oklahoma's game against Iowa in last year's Insight Bowl began at 9:11 p.m.
This will be the third meeting between OU and UTEP. The Sooners captured home victories in 2000 (55-14) and 2002 (68-0).
The Sooners open their home schedule with a Sept. 8 game against Florida A&M.
Also on Thursday, it was announced Oklahoma State will have a 9:30 p.m. start for its Sept. 8 game at Arizona.
It will be the third time in 22 months that the programs will have met. OSU beat the Wildcats 36-10 in the 2010 Alamo Bowl and 37-14 in Stillwater last season.
Tulsa had eight games chosen for television, including the Sept. 8 home opener against Tulane. The Golden Hurricane will have five Chapman Stadium games on national television.
"We're excited about the TV schedule released today. The opportunity to be on television eight times is big for our program," Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship said. "With five home games on national television, it's important to be able to showcase to the country our city, our university and our football program with tremendous fan support."
The Tulane-Tulsa game, with an 11 a.m. start, will be on Fox Sports Net. That network also will show league home games against UTEP (7 p.m. Oct. 11), Rice (2:30 p.m. Oct. 20) and UCF (TBA Nov. 17). It will pick up Tulsa's game at SMU on Nov. 24.
The Hurricane's nonconference game against visiting Fresno State (7 p.m. Sept. 22), at Marshall (2:30 p.m. Oct. 6) and at Houston (4 p.m. Nov. 10) will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
Original Print Headline: OU-UTEP set for late kickoff
Eric Bailey 918-581-8391
eric.bailey@tulsaworld.com
