A much anticipated 2021 OU football season starts Saturday in unorthodox fashion — a game moved by a hurricane to a partially filled Memorial Stadium during a pandemic that has fans wondering if attending is a health risk best avoided by watching it all on a living room TV.
All of that still hasn’t dampened the usual enthusiasm that marks a season beginning. This week is the most exciting part of college football. All teams are undefeated. Until this weekend, anyway.
Kickoff in Norman is 11 am (of course it is) and will be televised on ABC, with our old friend Dusty Dvorcek among the broadcast team.
The opponent, the Tulane Green Wave, went 6-6 last year. They are believed to be no match for a Sooners squad that some national experts are tagging as the favorite for a national championship.
Last year fan attendance was limited due to COVID. This year OU is selling tickets for all seats. We will see how many get sold during what was to be the opening game against Western Carolina next week. This week only the lower bowl will be available. Much praise goes to the OU ticket office for scrambling this week to accommodate the venue change from New Orleans to Norman.
But first, many of those coming to Norman will see new things. First, tickets are all digital. If you don’t have a smart phone you have a problem (we understand if you call the athletic ticket office they will print out paper tickets for you).
Mask wearing is encouraged. But, if that comes off like the rest of OU’s COVID planning, it will mean less than half the crowd will wear them.
Concession stands are cashless. No more digging wads of ones out of your pocket. But, we have no idea whether the hawkers in the stands will be swiping credit cards, and how that works (will we pass our cards down the row to the soda pop man in the aisle?).
The Pride of Oklahoma will form up pre-game on the North Oval as usual, but their march to the stadium will end up at Heisman Park on the east side of the stadium this year. Plus, they will be seated in a different section closer to the north end zone, so the acoustics for Boomer Sooner! may be a bit different in the stadium.
What will be familiar to all, however, will be a high powered offense, led by QB Spencer Rattler and designed by the unpredictable head coach Lincoln Riley. To make it even better, more improvement is expected from a deep Alex Grinch-coached defense.
We aren’t sure whether we will be in the stands for Tulane. This game should become a blow out by the end of the third quarter.
And the air conditioning of the living room sounds good on a hot early September.
Either way, it is great to see football back in Oklahoma. It is time to get down to business.
Follow
