It’s one of the best sports weeks of the year. It’s Beat Texas week.

And I’m feeling good about where the Sooners are at this point in the season. Oklahoma is 5-0 with a dominant defense and a good-enough offense — and it feels like the Sooners should be good enough to get past Arch Manning and the Longhorns.

But I’ve had this feeling before. You just never know.

Perhaps my favorite OU-Texas memory was the only year I ever attended in person, 1996. Oklahoma was 0-4, and John Blake was at the helm. Texas was up 24-13 in the fourth quarter, and the Sooners put on a comeback for the ages.

Click here, and start watching at the 48:00 mark.

Led by Jarrail Jackson, James Allen and Justin Fuente, OU took it to overtime.

And then won it 30-27 when Allen ran it in, two years after being stopped at the goalline to end the game.

Bob Barry Sr. on the radio call proclaimed, “Touchdown, Oklahoma! Hallelujah! Sooners win!”

Here’s your Tuesday list:

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Cooler Tuesday, and some rain chances, too.

🌡️ Tuesday's high in OKC 77°
🌡️ Tuesday’s high in Tulsa 78°

By Lionel Ramos, KOSU
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The long-shuttered Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga is coming back to life. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections, along with federal immigration authorities, recently signed a $100 million contract with the private prison company CoreCivic to house detained migrants at its Blaine County location.

The $100 million represents Oklahoma taxpayer money, whether it comes directly from the state’s coffers or the federal government’s.

Despite sitting empty since 2010, the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga is maintained and ready for “seamless reactivation,” per a press release aimed at CoreCivic’s investors. While the contract took effect late last month, the company doesn’t expect to house detainees until early next year. The contract term is for five years with the possibility of extensions.

The facility has the capacity to hold 2,160 people, and under this agreement, is meant exclusively for those arrested and detained for federal immigration violations. It is one of a handful of detention centers CoreCivic is reactivating in the region for that purpose.

Other facilities revamped by the company are located broadly in the southern and midwestern parts of the country. According to a research and analysis firm called ZacksSCR, which regularly studies CoreCivic, those locations include:

Patrick Swindle is CoreCivic's president and chief operating officer. He says in the press release that the contracts are expected to yield hundreds of millions in annual profits for investors as the detention needs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, continue to increase.

“Including the new contract awards at three of our other facilities …we have signed new contracts aggregating 6,353 beds across our four facilities, all of which were idle at the beginning of the year, with approximately $325 million of annual revenue once the facilities are fully activated,” says Swindle. “Reactivating the Diamondback facility is another step towards realizing the growth potential of the Company.”

Diamondback brings the total new beds dedicated to holding arrested migrants up to around 8,700, between the five revamped locations. And, regardless of warnings from advocates and state policy thinktanks, there is more capacity growth coming in this state as CoreCivic eyes its North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre for immigration detention, too.

The company has already started hiring correctional officers and other staff.

Swindle and company have a reason to prepare.

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It’s time for another episode of the ‘Bedlam Buds’ podcast — and this week, Jeremy and I look back on the Oklahoma win over Kent State and Oklahoma State’s loss to Arizona in Tucson.

Would you believe it was one of the Cowboys’ best defensive games of the season?

It was, and I have some hot sports opinions about the Sooners and this weekend’s rivalry game against Texas in Dallas.

Watch, listen, like, subscribe — and leave a comment or ask a question. Doesn’t even have to be sports related.

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

• ‘Hastened his death’: Lich Vu dies nearly a year after OKCPD encounter left him seriously injured (NonDoc)

• Federal budget uncertainty complicates efforts to plan future Oklahoma road, bridge projects (Oklahoma Voice)

• Oklahoma appeals court clears way for new trial in Karl Fontenot case (KOSU)

• Saltwater leak kills dozens of cattle and wildlife in Caddo County, Gov. Stitt declares environmental emergency (News 9)

• Oklahoma mom fights to regain custody after ending teen's chemo for natural cancer treatments (KOCO)

• 'He was my best friend': Pryor chemical plant explosion claims life of Barnsdall man (News On 6)

• Semi-truck driver charged with manslaughter in crash that killed OTA employee (KOCO)

• Running out of time, Oklahoma man's family hopes for a chance at freedom (The Frontier and KOSU)

• Durant High School senior addresses school board after being denied to wear tribal regalia in yearbook photo (KXII)

• Tribal citizen appeals to 10th Circuit after 2 judges stop Indian civil rights cases in Oklahoma (NonDoc)

• 'I really didn't ever imagine her gone': Family of woman who deputies say was murdered by her husband speaks out (News On 6)

• 'Pretty exciting': New battery factory coming to McAlester (2 News Oklahoma)

• Invasive cedar removal is expensive. A new Oklahoma program covers some costs (KOSU)

• New superintendent Lindel Fields tells Oklahoma parents 'we must hold fast to kindness' (The Oklahoman)

• 'What's the next step?' Coweta neighbors curious of 200-acre annexation (2 News Oklahoma)

• Two FRESH by Reasor's locations coming soon to Oklahoma City metro (KOCO)

• Isla’s Southern Kitchen in downtown Tulsa to close (Tulsa World)

• Oklahoma State University holds Poketoberfest event for students (KOSU)

• Work Ready Altus prepares for Worklahoma Job Fair (KSWO)

The ‘Oklahoma Memo’ mission is simple: Reignite the daily news habit by connecting Oklahomans and those who love Oklahoma to quality sources of news and vetted information.

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