Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 • Sunny and cool. High in the upper-40s to lower-50s.

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Today’s Memo:

By Ryan Welton, Oklahoma Memo

Oklahoma’s place in the 2025 College Football Playoff was pretty assured before this weekend, and Sooners fans were fairly certain the team would get a No. 8 seed.

What nobody anticipated was a rematch against Alabama, a team the Sooners beat on the road a month ago. Most prognosticators had Oklahoma hosting Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish didn’t even make the playoffs.

What do we know, right?

The No. 8 seed Oklahoma welcomes the No. 9 Crimson Tide to Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Friday, Dec. 19. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT, with national coverage on ABC/ESPN. It marks Oklahoma’s first home playoff game in the expanded 12-team format — and a chance to repeat a result from earlier this season.

Oklahoma and Alabama met in the regular season in Tuscaloosa, where the Sooners edged the Tide 23–21. A second win would send OU to the Rose Bowl for a quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 seed Indiana on Jan. 1.

According to The REF Sports Radio Network, Oklahoma is 8-0 in rematch games since 1970.

Alabama enters the playoff at 10–3 after falling to Georgia in the SEC Championship game, 28-7.

According to KOCO, season ticket holders will get first dibs at tickets on Monday. The general public will get its chance on Tuesday, and ticket prices will start at $173 apiece.

By Sierra Pfeifer, Abigail Siatkowski, Lionel Ramos, and Hannah France, KGOU
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As Norman becomes a center of a free speech debate, OU students are rallying behind the instructor suspended for giving an essay a failing grade.

University of Oklahoma students gathered to protest a teaching assistant’s suspension on Friday afternoon in Norman.

The instructor, Mel Curth, was placed on leave by the university in November. She had given a failing grade to an OU student in an incident that’s sparking debate in Oklahoma and beyond about free speech and the place of religion in the classroom.

Samantha Fulnecky, a junior at OU, says she's a victim of religious persecution because she was given a zero for an essay that cited the Bible, which was later published by The Oklahoman. Fulnecky reached out to the governor and leaders of conservative groups, making her case for discrimination.

The incident is sparking debate online, and Fulnecky has been invited to speak at multiple conservative events. But her claims of discrimination have also sparked opposition from some – especially on OU’s campus – who feel her instructor was unfairly punished.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• Special election set for Oklahoma City House seat (Oklahoma Voice)

• Sources: Chamber behind survey measuring support for Oklahoma County jail tax (KFOR)

• OKC stadium budget nearly triples since MAPS 4 vote (Oklahoma City Free Press)

• Car crashes into two women, killing mother, in Warr Acres, police say (KOCO)

• Tulsa mom mourns loss of son, 7, to mystery illness | Project Santa (Tulsa World)*

• OKC program funded via Choosing Childbirth Act offers mentors, support (The Oklahoman)*

• Tulsa Public Schools proposes $600 million school bond for classrooms, transportation (2 News Oklahoma)

• Oklahoma lawmakers file thousands of 2025 bills, but few likely to advance (News On 6)

• ‘So close and now it just feels so far away’: Texoma family’s immigration story (KXII)

• Oklahoma Chronicle: Would open primaries benefit Oklahoma? (KOCO)

• Another OU teacher suspended (OU Nightly)

• New report finds Indigenous people are disproportionately affected by gun violence (Public Radio Tulsa)

• Epic Charter Schools announces new superintendent (News 9)

• Judge denies Oklahoma Survivors' Act resentencing, extending ongoing trend (Public Radio Tulsa)

• Tulsa library’s autonomous mini-library closes after 2 days due to ‘water issue’ (Tulsa Flyer)

• Flying for the holidays? Tribal IDs still accepted at TSA checkpoints (KOSU)

• OU president Joe Harroz outlines 4 places where Sooners are looking for next athletic director (Tulsa World)*

• PASS IT ON: Boy asks for fishing stories instead of toys for Christmas (2 News Oklahoma)

• Entrant list for 40th annual Chili Bowl Nationals pushes past 200 (News On 6)

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