After weeks of speculation, Oregon football finally agreed to a home-and-home series with Oklahoma on Wednesday.
The Ducks will travel to Norman on Sept. 18, for the first of two games. The Sooners will play in Eugene sometime during the 2008 season.
The game next season replaces a scheduled road contest for Oregon at Nevada. The Ducks will eventually make up that game.
“Oregon football is now at a level where we can compete with the best programs in the country,” Oregon athletics director Bill Moos said in a release. “Certainly the University of Oklahoma is one of those.
“I feel we owe it to our players and our fans to make every effort to schedule marquee teams on a home-and-home basis.”
Talks between the Ducks and Sooners had been on-going for about a month. Oregon needed Nevada to allow the Ducks to get out of their immediate obligation.
“This has been an unusual and complicated process due in part to the lateness of the negotiations and the sensitivity to the University of Nevada,” Moos said.
Both games between the Ducks and Sooners are slated to be played before a national television audience with both teams agreeing to pay the visitor $300,000.
The 2004 season will mark the second such year that the Ducks will take on a nationally renowned program from outside the Pacific-10 Conference. Oregon defeated Big 10 Conference member Michigan, 31-27, at Autzen Stadium last season.
Oklahoma went 12-2 last season, losing to Louisiana State in the national championship game, 21-14.
The Sooners swept through the Big 12 Conference, winning all eight of their regular season games. However, they lost to then-No. 10 Kansas State, 35-7, in the Big 12 Championship game.
The most notable Sooner player is quarterback Jason White, who won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top player this past season.
The Ducks and Sooners have met four times with Oklahoma winning each contest. However, the Sooners trip to Autzen in 2008 will be their first.
“Intersectional contests like this and previous series with Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin provide quality competition as well as tremendous exposure not only for Oregon football but the entire University as well,” Moos said.
Oregon opens up the 2004 season on Sept. 11, hosting the Big 10’s Indiana. After the game with Oklahoma, the Ducks return to Autzen Stadium against Idaho on Sept. 25.
The Ducks open their Pac-10 schedule by hosting Arizona State on Oct. 2.