Would B1G Welcome Oklahoma?

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
Well, a partner is mandatory, preferably from this part of the country. And that means either Texas or Kansas (both of which are AAU members, by the way). Either would fulfill the Big Ten's apparent requirements of new markets. Either, with OU, would provide an easy divisional break, with the Sooners and either Texas or KU joining Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwestern. And OU in a Big Ten West would help balance what is clearly an inequity, with the Big Ten East currently a far-superior football division.

A friend in the business has been telling me for years that OU and Texas appeal to the Big Ten and its networks, because they would more easily provide night games late in the season. I don't know. Seems like networks tell football teams when to play regardless of 20-degree November nights. But maybe that's a factor.

Going into the Big Ten with Kansas would cause the Sooners immediate problems. They would be given a nine-game conference schedule and be left with two traditional nonconference opponents in OSU and Texas.

No way would the Sooners want to end their Dallas tradition with Texas, and no way could the Sooners end Bedlam. Getting the legislature to sign off on a move to the Big Ten would be difficult enough, much less if it came with the demise of Bedlam.

Going into the Big Ten with Texas would cause less stress.
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News OK

 
I can't see any logical reason for why the Big Ten would want either UT or OU. They will want schools with mediocre football programs and not national powers. The Big Ten has plenty of football power already. They will look for programs and schools that raise academic standing and BB and other sports. Not football. Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska would all vote NO. Nebraska gets a vote I believe in July of this year.

I could see Notre Dame as they 'fit' academically and geographically and historically. Notre Dame has a big name but not so much football power (much like Nebraska had - we brought national reputation without a great immediate team to threaten the 'haves' of the big ten. The Big Ten is now 'thee' numbero uno league and doesn't need more football power. The Big Ten would give OU and especially Texas national legitimacy and with their huge recruiting advantage, they would be a real threat to the Buckeyes, etall.

I could see perhaps an east coast program such as North Carolina being a great fit. Strong academics and BB powerhouse. Football not so much. NC is a growing, prosperous state too. Not so much of a recruiting threat as well. VT would be another good one. KU is also a possibility with academic and BB status but no football threat at all. They fit geographically better too.

I am also not all that sure that OU or UT would want to join the Big Ten.

 
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Why can't they?

Clemson plays South Carolina in the final week.

Georgia plays Georgia Tech.

Why couldn't Oklahoma play Ok State in the final week being non conference opponents?

 
Coach Power'T said:
Why can't they?

Clemson plays South Carolina in the final week.

Georgia plays Georgia Tech.

Why couldn't Oklahoma play Ok State in the final week being non conference opponents?
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Its about playing Okie Lite AND UTerus - leaving only one patsy non-con game

 
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No way Cincy gets in. I have been hoping for a Kansas/OU defection so we can go to Four 4-team pods in football ever since we hit the awkward 14 number. Send Purdue or Indiana to the East Pod. Not sure if we would take OU, but since ND is not in the AAU and we would take them, I assume OU's football tradition would trump AAU membership.

West Pod:

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NU

OU

Kansas

Iowa

This would be nice. NU would play those three teams every year. OU/Okie St and Kansas/KSU would end up like the Iowa/Iowa St series. NU/OU would have to be Thanksgiving weekend.

Hey if this happens can we eject Rutgers and pick up Virginia, Pitt or maybe Syracuse?

 
84HuskerLaw said:
I can't see any logical reason for why the Big Ten would want either UT or OU. They will want schools with mediocre football programs and not national powers. The Big Ten has plenty of football power already. They will look for programs and schools that raise academic standing and BB and other sports. Not football. Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska would all vote NO. Nebraska gets a vote I believe in July of this year.

I could see Notre Dame as they 'fit' academically and geographically and historically. Notre Dame has a big name but not so much football power (much like Nebraska had - we brought national reputation without a great immediate team to threaten the 'haves' of the big ten. The Big Ten is now 'thee' numbero uno league and doesn't need more football power. The Big Ten would give OU and especially Texas national legitimacy and with their huge recruiting advantage, they would be a real threat to the Buckeyes, etall.

I could see perhaps an east coast program such as North Carolina being a great fit. Strong academics and BB powerhouse. Football not so much. NC is a growing, prosperous state too. Not so much of a recruiting threat as well. VT would be another good one. KU is also a possibility with academic and BB status but no football threat at all. They fit geographically better too.

I am also not all that sure that OU or UT would want to join the Big Ten.
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Jesus H. Christ...no...just no.
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Per the Omaha World-Herald, we already know via a current Big XII AD that was directly involved (read: KS or OU) that the B1G has already vetted Oklahoma, as the original deal for the B1G was to pick up Nebraska, Oklahoma, Mizzery, Kansas, and aTm in a five-team deal back in 2010. That deal went to s*** because aTm got greedy with the amount of money they were getting from TV rights and scuttled the deal.

This illustrates that the following are incorrect assessments with your post:

  • The B1G does want Oklahoma and is willing to take them
  • Oklahoma (and Kansas) have already been vetted by the B1G, so they passed the proverbial smell test, among other things
  • Oklahoma was willing to go to the B1G.
Additionally, Boren has gone on record multiple times as wanting to improve Oklahoma's academic cache and Olympic sports--something that Trammel (Oklahoma's local media mouthpiece) has reiterated. That won't happen unless Oklahoma moves to either the Pac-12 or the B1G--a move to the SEC would do the opposite. The only problem with this is that T. Boones (Farms) Pickens owns the Oklahoma Legislature, and a move by Oklahoma to another conference would require leaving Okie Lite behind (and thus rendering all of T. Boones Farms Pickens' investments into Okie Lite moot, to a degree).

The question isn't if Oklahoma would want to go to the B1G (the people that make decisions do), or if the B1G will have them (the B1G has already tried to get them before): the questions to ask are:

  • How will Oklahoma escape their state legislature, which is ignorant and bought off by an Okie Lite booster 'of substance' (to borrow a $ Bill Byrne status)?
  • Who will Oklahoma's moving buddy be?KansasThey have already shown a willingness to jump ship twice: once to the B1G in the five-team deal, and again to the now-defunct Big East.
  • Kansas isn't beholden to the State Legislature or Kansas State/Wichita State in their decision to move
  • Kansas is a basketball blue-blood, and Delaney wants to improve the cache of B1G Basketball
  • Kansas technically has been to a top-tier bowl more recently than us (sad but true)

[*]Texass
  • They pair well with Oklahoma, and it takes care of a lingering concern re: their rivalry game and OOC scheduling
  • ESPN is not doing well fiscally, some in part due to the crapfest of a channel called Longwhorn Network, so they may be willing to negotiate paying more for B1G rights when adding OU and UT to get out from the Longwhorn Network contract.
  • Texas does bring eyeballs and ratings, probably because people like to watch them fail.
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North Carolina is locked off by the GOR that the ACC has in place, unfortunately. Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texass have resisted extending the current Big XII GOR, which I believe is up about the same time the new B1G contracts are up (2021 IIRC).

Personally I'd prefer to see Kansas and Oklahoma, but I get it if the B1G wants to bring Texass on board. If anything, having Oklahoma, Texass, Wisconsin, and Nebraska in the B1G West would make it a rather formidable conference and put it on par with the B1G East.

But to reject Oklahoma out of hand and say the B1G doesn't want them (or vice versa) is ignoring what has been going on for years.

 
Too bad we didn't get those other 4 teams along with NU. We could have skipped Mayland and Rutgers.
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nic said:
Too bad we didn't get those other 4 teams along with NU. We could have skipped Mayland and Rutgers.
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Yes and no. Maryalnd and Rutgers, while not anything sexy, have done their job--they helped get the BTN into New York and the Baltimore/DC areas,which will result in bigger payouts for the conference. Plus, Maryland is good at a few sports (Baseball, Basketball).

Would the five-team deal have been better? Not necessarily--Rutgers or Maryland are decidedly better for the whole of the conference than Mizzery. And as for getting Texass eyeballs...that will be done by getting Oklahoma (at least the DFW market--the SEC has Houston, for all intents and purposes). Yes, Texass is decidedly better than Kansas...but I'd suggest that the B1G doesn't need Texass' viewers any longer thanks to getting their hooks in the NYC/DC/Baltimore markets. So if Texass does join, it will be on the B1G's terms, and not the other way around, which should help with potential drama.

And if Texass balks and Kansas goes instead? Well, they'll provide half of what Mizzery was going to bring, but with a decidedly better basketball pedigree and a significantly better national following.

Either way, we win, and we honestly probably end up further ahead than had the five team deal went through to begin with.

 
if they are going to go to 16 teams than I think OU and Kansas are great picks. The TV sets that will get picked up will be very solid. Were are talking all of Kansas and basically northern Missouri and OU will take in Oklahoma and the DFW area lots of alums living in those areas.

I have no desire to see NU go back to the Big 12, but it would be nice to see a couple of old time Big 8 schools join the B1G.

I get thre draw of Texas at its market share, but Texas will want to dictate what is going on, they will never want to be just one of the guys.

 
I have been a BigTen fan for decades. I would love to see an OU -KU addition. Don't really want or care about Texas. Still hate the addition of Rutgers despite the TV sets. Maryland I tolerate. I read an article today from the Uconn blog.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2017/5/13/15634424/notre-dame-join-acc-netwo...

It says ND is in talks to join the ACC in football. I will believe it when I see it, and since this is from Uconn, it is probably just wishful thinking since the ACC would need a 16th team and UCONN wants in. If this were to happen, I wonder if WVU would be a possible target. If the Big 12 loses a team, it might just spur on a KU/OU defection.

 
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nic said:
I have been a BigTen fan for decades. I would love to see an OU -KU addition. Don't really want or care about Texas. Still hate the addition of Rutgers despite the TV sets. Maryland I tolerate. I read an article today from the Uconn blog.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2017/5/13/15634424/notre-dame-join-acc-netwo...

It says ND is in talks to join the ACC in football. I will believe it when I see it, and since this is from Uconn, it is probably just wishful thinking since the ACC would need a 16th team and UCONN wants in. If this were to happen, I wonder if WVU would be a possible target. If the Big 12 loses a team, it might just spur on a KU/OU defection.
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West Virginia would be more attractive, but unless the Big XII is dissolved, they're out of reach until the GOR expires (2021 or so).

Still, if 2021 rolls around and we're seeing Oklahoma and X joining the B1G (X being either Kansas or Texass), and the ACC is still needing a moving buddy for Notre Dame, West Virginia would at least be on the short list, if not at the top of it.

 
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