Norman, Okla. ? Bob Stoops says he won’t have any trouble putting friendship aside this week when No. 2 Oklahoma plays host to South Florida.

The coach at South Florida is Jim Leavitt, who spent six years with Stoops as an assistant coach under Bill Snyder at Kansas State during the 1990s. For five of those years, Leavitt and Stoops were co-defensive coordinators.

Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops answers questions during his weekly press conference. Stoops talked Tuesday in Norman, Okla., about the Sooners' next opponent, South Florida, which is coached by Jim Leavitt. Stoops and Leavitt spent five years as co-defensive coordinators at Kansas State.

“We’ve played teams here that I’ve had prior acquaintances with,” Stoops said at his weekly news conference Tuesday. “It’s not me versus him.

“I say this every time we play someone that we know or have some kind of background with it’s our program versus their program, it’s a team versus a team.”

In this case, it’s an apparent mismatch. Oklahoma (3-0) has seven national titles, the most recent coming in 2000. South Florida (2-1) didn’t have a football program before Leavitt arrived in 1996, and this is just the Bulls’ second year in Division I.

“I think they’ve done an excellent job in six years putting together the athletes and some of the players they have,” Stoops said. “They’re a team, we’re fully aware of, that went to Pittsburgh last year and beat Pittsburgh, a team that was a bowl team.”

It is expected that South Florida will serve as little more than a tuneup for the start of the Big 12 season. Oklahoma travels to Missouri on Oct. 5, then plays No. 3 Texas in Dallas on Oct. 12 before returning home to play No. 19 Iowa State the following week.

The Sooners used the off week to work on things they will see from each of those teams. They also used the time to give more practice snaps to many of the younger players who have gotten playing time in the first three games.

“I think we’ve made some progress,” Stoops said. “We really practiced hard. The players really worked well through the week and I felt like we made some progress leading into South Florida.”

He and Leavitt will visit before the game, as coaches always do. Then, it will be all business.

“When you get into the game, you want to be as good as you can be, and you’re focused on winning and doing whatever it takes to win,” Stoops said.

At halftime of Saturday’s game, a ceremony will be held to honor former Oklahoma great Lee Roy Selmon, who is athletic director at South Florida. Selmon was an All-American in 1974 and ’75. He and his brothers, Lucious and Dewey, all played at Oklahoma and are revered in the state.

Stoops said the Selmons are remembered for their playing ability, “but more than that their character, their leadership and what they mean to this program.”

“We’re just very proud of all they’ve accomplished and what they stand for even today,” he said. “It’ll be great to have him back.”

Notes: Stoops said defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who did not play against Texas-El Paso two weeks ago due to a minor injury, practiced Monday and expected back in the lineup this week. … Saturday’s game wraps up a long in-state stay for Oklahoma. The Sooners opened their season at Tulsa on Aug. 30, and followed that with home games against Alabama and UTEP at home.