Oklahoma would love to make an early College Football Playoff statement, just like Ohio State did last year at the Sooners' expense.
TCU wants to prove this season is different with a road win at Arkansas.
In both high-profile nonconference tests, the focus has been kept internal. Nobody this week was waving the Big 12 flag publicly.
"I'm carrying the flag for TCU," Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson said. "My job is to win ball games. If we win enough of them, then we'll be back in the national conversation. If we don't, we won't. But our goal every year is to try to do that.