Oklahoma Football: Why the Sooners will emerge victorious in Bedlam

2. Home Field Advantage

The two flagship state schools in Oklahoma are separated by a short hour and a half’s drive. For that very reason, a raucous crowd can be anticipated: and expected for that matter.

However, with the alternating home-and-away series, Oklahoma is the home team this season and that scheduling component can play to its advantage.

Oklahoma’s stadium seats more than 86,000 strong with a capacity crowd and with such a bitter rivalry taking place, maybe, even more, will be housed in the confines of Norman.

The buildup for this game will be immense. Bad blood exists between the fans of each school (as with any rivalry game) but the matchup could very well be a pivotal point in the season in terms of the Big 12 standings. The Sooners and Cowboys are usually situated near the top of the conference leaderboard.

The Big 12 is a rarity in the modern college football era in that the conference isn’t divided into two divisions like the rest of the Power 5 conferences are. That means the outcome of each conference game can completely shake up the standings more so than other conferences.

The magnitude of the game may be altered based on how each team performs prior to the matchup, but for the time being, the game can be circled as one that may prove to be a deciding factor of how the Big 12 standings will finalize at the end of the upcoming season.