Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on Sept. 27, 2024. It is being reissued this week because SEC Nation, the SEC Network’s pregame show, will air live from the State Fair of Texas on Saturday morning before the OU-Texas game.
The SEC Network is where Sooner Nation can find more consistent, detailed TV coverage of its favorite OU teams.
It’s a platform for exposure and entertainment that wasn’t available to OU and its fanbase in the Big 12, and it provides an opportunity for those parties to be immersed in SEC culture.
“I can’t imagine if you’re a fan of the Sooners or of the SEC (that) you’re not tuned into the SEC Network,” said Charlie Hussey, the deputy commissioner of the SEC. “If you’re not, you’re missing out.”
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SEC Network prepared for OU, Texas
A sister channel of main ESPN, the SEC Network has a lot to offer, maybe more than some Oklahoma fans know. Between the television network and its digital platform, SEC Network+, more than 1,400 live events are broadcast every year. That’s games across all sports for the league’s members, but it’s also hours upon hours of studio shows and original content.
Hussey was previously the SEC’s associate commissioner for SEC Network relations and has been at the forefront of the network’s rise since 2014. At that time, Disney CEO Bob Iger had called it “the most successful launch of a television channel in the history of cable television.” The network has long taken pride in that sentiment.
Preparations for OU and Texas’ official arrival to the SEC, Hussey said, felt reminiscent of the network’s launch. The addition of new teams provided an opportunity for the network to reevaluate, then double down on its successful storytelling strategies.
“That passion that our fans have and the great content that’s there allowed for the SEC Network to start out of the gate in a great position,” Hussey said. “And so with OU and Texas, I think it only furthers the demand and interest in the network.”
Michael Thompson Jr. was hired as ESPN’s vice president for programming and acquisitions in May 2022 after more than a decade working in external relations for the Ole Miss and Texas A&M athletic departments.
In every SEC Network programming meeting in the two years since his arrival, OU and Texas were front of mind. ESPN wanted to tell the SEC story to Sooner and Longhorn fans and share those programs’ histories with the rest of the league’s institutions, through the SEC Network and the new SEC on ABC package.
“We want our programming to represent everything that SEC fans love about football, but (also) about really living the SEC lifestyle,” Thompson said. “It’s just kind of a different way of life. And you hear people talk about that all the time, but it truly is. And so our network is really designed to bring fans home to that.”
Few programs embody SEC culture better than The Paul Finebaum Show, which airs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT on weekdays and is one of the most iconic talk shows in all of sports media. Finebaum himself boasts a deep knowledge of the SEC, and the fanatical fans who call into his show on a daily basis help pinpoint the pulse of every SEC school.
Finebaum is followed on Tuesdays and Fridays by SEC Now, the network’s flagship news show that’s essentially its own ESPN SportsCenter. Ahead of the 2024 season, SEC Now’s special schedule reveal show had more viewership than ESPN’s NFL schedule release show, Hussey said.
Dari Nowkhah is the SEC Network’s lead anchor and a host for SEC Now, along with Peter Burns and Alyssa Lang. A Tulsa native, OU grad and former KOTV sportscaster, Nowkhah has been an ambassador for the Sooners at the network during their transition to the SEC.
He maintains that OU is just one of 16 schools and should be treated as such through equitable coverage. But he has been excited by its new relevance in SEC conversations and his coworkers’ heightened interest in his alma mater. He’s also adamant that the SEC Network is the place for OU fans to be.
“Other than your local news sportscast, which is limited to just a few minutes a show, there’s not a television outlet where they’re going to get more OU coverage than ours,” Nowkhah said. “And frankly, it’s not even close.
“ESPN will have a limited amount on their shows… without any sort of guarantee of seeing Oklahoma covered in any capacity. But we do have it every day, and every day we have a show, there will be some Oklahoma coverage.
“So if I’m a fan of any of the 16 teams, I’m watching the network, and honestly, over the decade that we’ve been in existence, I’ve been told more times than I can count how often they watch us and prefer us to even other ESPN networks.”
With the SEC Network: OU fans can stay up to date on other teams in the league better than when the Sooners were in the Big 12, Nowkhah said. Everyone keeps up with everyone in the SEC.
What to watch on SEC Network
SEC Nation, the SEC Network’s own pregame show, is in Auburn for the Sooners’ first-ever SEC road game against the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
The SEC Network content train doesn’t stop with the weekend. On Saturday mornings Marty & McGee gets the party started at 8 a.m. CT. ESPN reporters Marty Smith and Ryan McGee have phenomenal “chemistry,” Thompson said, as they delve into football and southern culture.
They travel along each week to the site of SEC Nation, which runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. CT, hosted by Laura Rutledge and featuring Finebaum, Tim Tebow, Roman Harper and Jordan Rodgers.
Harper played at Alabama, Rodgers at Vanderbilt and everyone knows Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner and national champion at Florida. Thompson calls them “iconic faces and voices for this league.” What can OU fans tuning in to SEC Nation for the first time expect?
“There may be people in the company that don’t like this description, but it is probably about as accurate as it gets: SEC Nation is an SEC version of GameDay,” Thompson said. “Again, for an SEC fan, it’s all the stuff that they want. If they’re not interested in some of the national stories and pictures, SEC Nation is absolutely the place to be.”
Hussey said he toggles between College GameDay and SEC Nation but leans toward the latter given its narrowed focus. There’s no debate on Saturday nights, though. He’s tuning in to SEC Football Final as Nowkhah, Chris Doering, Benjamin Watson and Takeo Spikes break down the day’s games.
What other SEC Network programs should OU fans know about?
SEC This Morning with Doering and Burns is simulcast from Sirius XM onto SEC Network, starting at 7 a.m. CT on Mondays and Fridays. Harper and Cole Cubelic break down the X’s and O’s of the previous week’s football games during Read and React at 6 p.m. CT on Mondays.
There’s also SEC in 60, a condensed hour-long breakdown of recent football games at 7 p.m. CT on Mondays. And on Out of Pocket, Lang and Randall Cobb let their personalities shine as they look around the SEC at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Thompson says of the studio shows: “They all just have a different kind of flavor… but they’re all so informative in their own ways.”
The same can be said about the SEC Network’s original series. SEC Storied is a great library of the more than 60 films the network has made in the last 10 years. Thompson said a new production about the advent of the wishbone that features OU could come out next fall and there’s future OU-related content in the works.
For the network’s Homecoming series, notable alumni from SEC schools return home for an interview with Finebaum. Legendary Sooners linebacker Brian Bosworth was the subject of an episode that was taped in the spring and aired in the summer.
SEC Inside is an all-access show that moonlighted at both Texas and OU spring practices to give fans an exclusive look.
And, going beyond the playing field, there’s True South, the Emmy Award-winning series that examines southern food and culture. The first episode of Season 7, which premiered in August, was filmed in Oklahoma City, featuring Cattlemen’s Steakhouse and Junior’s Supper Club.
“True South is honestly one of those that’s so unique, because you’re not going to watch it and see much sports in it,” Thompson said. “It’s really a show about human beings and their relationship with a place… but it’s an awesome way to tell a different story.”
What the SEC Network does for OU
OU has the capacity to generate its own content with SoonerVision, its in-house video arm. SoonerVision has regularly produced live sporting events on ESPN+, as well as the OUDNA: All-Access football series and the weekly Sooner Sports Talk with Brent Venables coaches show. But there is benefit in also being marketed by the SEC Network.
On July 1 when the Sooners officially entered the league, the network was in Norman for all-day OU-centric programming.
OU football’s second game of the 2024 season, on Sept. 7 versus Houston, would’ve drawn a pay per view or ESPN+ assignment in years past, but instead it was broadcast nationally on the SEC Network.
To date, eight OU soccer games and the OU volleyball season opener have been broadcast on SEC Network+. More Sooner contests will be carried by the network and its digital platform in the future.
“Being affiliated with a large conference network significantly amplifies our visibility and reach,” said Leah Beasley, OU’s executive associate athletic director for external engagement, in a statement to the Tulsa World. “It not only positively showcases our athletics programs to a wider audience, it also highlights the rich traditions and excellence of OU Athletics.
“Our crew has thoroughly enjoyed working with the first-class SEC Network production team on recent OU-centric features. … The crews do their homework and come to town with an in-depth storyboard designed to draw in Sooner fans and SEC fans, alike.”
That’s the SEC Network’s ultimate goal.
“Hopefully we’re building something that’s must have TV for not only the Sooners,” Hussey said, “but the whole fan base of the SEC.”
