Saturday, September 5, 2026 • Forever a heatwave? 98-99. ☀️

🏈 Reminder: OSU and Tulsa kickoff at 2:45 p.m. from Chapman Stadium in Tulsa. If you’re not at the game, you can watch it on ESPNU.

We received 125 votes on the Friday poll, “What happens Friday night when OU hosts UTEP?”

By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
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OKLAHOMA CITY — The selection of key pieces of Oklahoma’s high-stakes reading law is underway in a process that likely will straddle two governors and state superintendents.

While schools prepare teachers and students for the “third-grade gate” that will take effect in the 2027-28 academic year, state officials have taken steps toward choosing another important piece of the law, a universal reading screener. 

All districts in the state will have to use the screener next school year to determine whether early elementary students have learning gaps in literacy and what extra instruction a child is entitled to receive.

State officials also must choose an alternative standardized literacy assessment that third graders would take if they score below a basic level on the annual state English language arts test. 

Students who score below basic on the state test risk being held back in third grade, but the alternative assessment would give them another chance to advance to fourth grade if they make an acceptable score, according to the new law. 

The reading legislation, signed into law in April, lays out a multi-step, double-agency process for choosing the screener and alternative assessment. 

First, the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability solicited bids from companies that could provide a reading screener.

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John Mateer pitched nearly a perfect game, throwing 11 of 17 for 225 yards and three touchdowns, and the Oklahoma defense pitched a shutout as the Sooners defeated Texas-El Paso 51-0 Friday night in Norman.

Get the full box score.

Key points:

• Lloyd Avant was terrific at RB. The Colorado State transfer ran for 79 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. As a team, the Sooners ran for 170 yards.

• Jonathan Hatton Jr. ran for 30 yards on 7 carries but flashed some breakaway speed late in the second quarter.

• The entire offense looked much improved. Oklahoma’s tight ends weren’t utilized much, but when they were, they looked good. Rocky Beers scored his first touchdown as a Sooner.

• True freshman Noah Best made the start at center, and he was terrific, as evidenced (especially early) by how strong the run game was.

• Coach Brent Venables wasn’t terribly pleased with his defense in the first half, but they were ball hawks in the second half. A shutout is a shutout.

Oklahoma is 1-0 and travels to Ann Arbor next week to face the Michigan Wolverines at 11 a.m. in a game televised on FOX.

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