The Oklahoma Sooners have added the Missouri State Bears to their 2028 football schedule, FBSchedules.com has learned.
Oklahoma will host Missouri State at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman on Saturday, September 9, 2028. The Bears will receive a $1.2 million guarantee for the matchup, according to a copy of the contract obtained from Missouri State University via a state public records request.
The two programs have met only once before. Oklahoma won the lone meeting 48-0 on Sept. 12, 2020, also in Norman.
With Missouri State now added, Oklahoma’s 2028 slate features one too many non‑conference opponents. The Sooners are currently scheduled to host Temple on Sept. 2 and Colorado State on Sept. 30, along with a road trip to Houston on Sept. 16.
The Temple contest is the final game of a three‑game series, and canceling it would cost $700,000. The Houston matchup is part of a home‑and‑home that began in Norman in 2024 and carries a $1 million cancellation fee. Dropping the Colorado State game, a single‑game agreement, would also cost $1 million.
Missouri State now has two non‑conference opponents lined up for 2028. The Bears are also scheduled to visit Arkansas State on Sept. 16, the second game of a home‑and‑home series between the programs.
Football Schedules
Whew! Looks like the Sooners are following SEC protocol by starting to schedule an FCS team each year. No doubt either the Temple or Colorado State game will be cancelled as the SEC has a mandate to play one P4 OOC game (i.e. Houston) each year. With Houston being an AWAY game, the matchup against Missouri State will no doubt increase their odds of becoming bowl eligible in 2028.
Except Missouri State is now an FBS team
Wait’ll this guy finds out Indiana and several Big Ten teams don’t even play a power team out of conference.
SEC! SEC! SEC! Indiana has the business of not playing P4 team & they do not have to.
Please leave Big Ten, ACC & Big 12 alone & just focus on SEC only.
Andrew, you are correct. SEC!, you are correct as well. It’s just sad that OOC games have become nothing but a way to pad the won/loss record so as to make more of your conference teams bowl/playoff eligible. Perhaps one day soon, the SEC and/or B10 will split off from the rest of the NCAA. The way things are going, I’d be ok with that. Then I would just watch/follow the NCAA games.
I don’t agree that the purpose of nonconference games is to pad the record, though it’s certainly part of the disucssion.
Nonconference games have become ways to add home games to the schedule every year. And for a lot of teams, that’s the most important thing. The wins are good, but the money those games bring in is even better.