When West Virginia finalized its move to the Big 12 on Tuesday morning, the conference wasted no time releasing a football schedule for next season.

Like last season, the 2012 slate will feature a 10-team, nine-game, round-robin schedule. In short, everybody plays everybody. While the format is the same as last season’s, the 2012 schedule will hold some noticeable changes for the Sooners.

For starters, the annual Bedlam matchup with in-state rival Oklahoma State has returned to Thanksgiving weekend after serving as the conference’s championship game on Dec. 3 last season. With Bedlam being pushed back to Nov. 24, the same weekend the game was played on for years prior to the departure of Nebraska and Colorado, Oklahoma’s only conference game in December will be played against the TCU Horned Frogs.

Of all the Sooners’ conference foes, the Horned Frogs have the third-best record against Oklahoma. OU currently leads the all-time series against TCU, 7-4. However, in recent history the series is even closer. Since 1996, the two teams have met four times, with TCU claiming victories in two of those contests.

The other new kid in the conference, West Virginia, may prove to be one of the toughest games on the schedule for Oklahoma next season. For starters, the Mountaineers have no fear of the Sooners. The short-lived series between these two teams is dead even at 2-2.

Though the teams have only played four times total, the most recent occurrence is still undoubtedly on the minds of most Sooner fans. West Virginia absolutely dominated the Sooners for a full 60 minutes on one of college football’s biggest stages. The Sooners were the heavy favorites going into the Fiesta Bowl in 2008. Oklahoma had one of the nation’s most exciting running backs in freshman Demarco Murray and a future Heisman winner in quarterback Sam Bradford. West Virginia was in the process of trying to find a coach after Rich Rodriguez left the team for Michigan shortly before the week of the game.

None of that mattered, though. Bradford was held to 242 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, and West Virginia compiled 525 total yards to beat the Sooners, 48-28.

Oklahoma’s first shot at redemption since that night in Glendale, Ariz. won’t be easy, though. The Sooners travel the week before Bedlam to Morgantown, W.V., one of the toughest, loudest stadiums in the nation to take on an athletic Mountaineer team not accustomed to losing at home.

That will undoubtedly be a key game on the schedule for Oklahoma. However, the key game every season is played during the second weekend of October. No change there, as the Sooners once again will meet the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 13 during the Texas State Fair. Texas is the only team in the Big 12 that holds a series advantage over Oklahoma. The Longhorns are currently up, 59-42-5, over the Sooners.

With the first conference game not scheduled until Sept. 22 against Kansas State in Norman, OU still has some flexibility with its non-conference schedule. The first three weeks of the schedule remain wide open. However, Notre Dame already has been confirmed as one of the teams OU will be facing in 2012. That is sure to be one of the marquee early-season matchups in 2012.

The team’s strength of schedule appears to be perfect for a championship run in the BCS. Now, Oklahoma just has to do what it takes to win the games.

Greg Fewell is a journalism senior and the sports editor for The Daily. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregfewell.