The University of Maine’s football team will take on a perennial power next fall as they will venture to Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the Sooners from the University of Oklahoma.
The time and date have yet to be announced. They will be determined after Oklahoma receives its inaugural SEC schedule.
The game will be played in the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, which can hold 86,112 fans.
It will be the first time the two schools have met in football.
The Black Bears will receive a $635,000 guarantee for playing the Sooners, who have been ranked 19th in the country in the preseason USA Today Sports American Football Coaches Association’s poll.
This is the 24th straight year the Sooners have been ranked in the top 20 in the preseason coaches poll.
The Sooners were 6-7 a year ago but lost five games by seven points or less.
They are a Football Bowl Subdivision program.
UMaine is in the Football Championship Subdivision, which has 22 fewer scholarships than the Football Bowl Subdivision and doesn’t have the same resources.
UMaine will also play Football Championship Subdivision contender Montana State next fall, for which it will receive $250,000.
Oklahoma is the latest in a long list of prominent programs that UMaine has faced over the years, which includes the likes of Nebraska, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Syracuse, Rutgers, Iowa, Pittsburgh and Boston College.
Oklahoma has won seven NCAA football titles and has been ranked No. 1 in the country in the AP poll 101 times. It has produced seven Heisman Trophy winners.
The UMaine game and a home date with Houston has rounded out Oklahoma’s non-conference schedule for 2024.
Joe Castiglione, the University of Oklahoma vice president and director of athletics, said the Sooners were “excited” to add Houston and UMaine to their schedule.
“We always strive to schedule non-conference opponents in a manner that positions us for success and creates a fun environment for our fans,” Castiglione said in a press release. “It was always going to be a challenge to find two programs at this late stage that had open dates but we’re thrilled to give our fans seven home games in 2024.”