re: Oklahoma should be added to the SEC

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SEC's last two moves were for markets(Tx and Mo), and recruiting access.

The next moves don't need to happen anytime soon, and shouldn't until the cord-cutting and tv market intangibles become clearer in coming years..

And when does, it will still be the wealthy and populous North Carolina and Virginia markets, not lower Middle America barren Indian nation wastelands.

OU has tradition & brand, it has many great programs and wins. The state is great lb for lb(Jenks,etc..), but isn't a recruiting hotbed, OU is almost an Dallas defacto football program that utilizes Tejas to excel.

Okla has 3.9M people, up only 900K in in the last 36 years! Va and NC have grown by over a million each of the last two decades.

I love OKC & Tulsa, but the rest is barren. I have nothing against OU, were always my fav school of the Big-8, or when paired vs Texas or TAM,etc. Just see it as welfare for OU by the SEC at this point.

Whenever the next move is(hopefully ages from now), it needs to be Mid-Atlantic, population, wealth, academia, hoops pedigree programs, recruiting bases, closer proxy to upper Eastern seaboard to sell hoopsters on SEC,..

I'm glad that the SEC isn't a pro-active predator in these silly shifts like Jim Delaney is..but rather a conservative and respectful Southerner to fellow conferences.

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A very nice, insightful post!
You sure you're an LSU fan?

I wouldn't want Oklahoma in the SEC. Besides Maryland, they were the worst fans I have ever encountered.

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You got the misfits already... OU is a national program.

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Lets do a little reality check here

circa 2009
SEC was on top
B12 was close behind
B1G was on decline
PAC was just the domain of USC
ACC was in last place

circa 2016
SEC is still on top
B12 lost 1 brand (Nebraska) and 4 AAU schools. They also fell to 10 and lost their CCFG
B1G still sucks but has so many eyeballs the media pimps them
(B1G 4 went 0-4 in bowls this year and two - OSU and NU - got whipped)
PAC still can not get a consistent 2nd team to pick up the USC slack
ACC has quietly moved into 2nd place yet folks still are in denial



Now for the real reality check

ACC is secure, so talk of anybody getting their member schools seems a pipe dream at best. Eventually the Irish will go all in and the ACC power will be able to challenge the SEC in a given year. If Virginia Tech did not move with Texas A&M in 2009 / 2010 it is a pretty good indication ESPN had more control of the ACC than the donors and college presidents. Thinking the SEC will go to 16 with UNC + UVA or NCST + VT is 2009 / 2010 thinking and no longer the current reality. The ACC has been in the championship game 3 of the last 4 years. Get with the future and quit thinking about how it looked in the past.

B1G has lots of eyeballs and lots of money but any college president with their salt knows they are the only power conference that must expand south to survive the next 50 years. ACC + B12 + PAC + SEC are all in growing population centers of the USA and time is on their side. None have to join the B1G, and long term staying put is in their best interest which is why the B1G has moved in 1989 (when they first went after Notre Dame and Penn State) and 2009 first to throw smoke to cover their future decline.

B12 had it all but killed the golden goose by getting too greedy and too self serving. The big schools in the B12 wanted to much and some left because of it. The little schools were too greedy in the short term to not band together and get better long term issues settled with the big schools. Not going to 12 and reinstating a real CCG it just the latest folly. They will limp along and get bent over by ESPN / FOX until the 2 to 4 schools with a place to mvd finally move. Business schools someday will study the B12 in case studies on how not to run a conference.

SEC has product but not near as many eyeballs. This is a reasonable tradeoff as long as the SEC produces sports crazy fans in greater per capita numbers than the other 4 conferences they compete with. Just as important, they need to pass the cultural identity on to the next generations. This will be a huge task with the younger set of fans who are more into self than the group. I take part of the blame as the Baby Boomers were self indulgent and they did not generally raise better offspring.

PAC has a product, but does anybody on the west coast care? They are secure with a natural barrier and no direct competition in their neighborhood. While they have lots of eyeballs, most of them want to smoke dope and surf so college sports like football have not been intergenerational lief and death battles. They will never understand tree killers or the Iron Bowl with the same understanding of any Alabama (the state) born and bred native. I love the south because it IS full of crazy people. Folks in the PAC just rolls their eyes and think their world does not have their own flakes and crazy folks. Live and let live I say until you mess with college sports in the south.




Now the Oklahoma reality check

OU has a lot to be proud about but they are not the Oklahoma of the 1950's to the 1990's. Nebraska is in the same boat and is facing the same issues. Nebraska was a leader in the Big 8 but not they are just a fading name forced to fall behind Ohio State and Michigan in the pecking order where they have been reduced from a King in their former life to a mere Vassal in the B1G kingdom.

Like the Cornhuskers, the Sooners have chosen to be the bitch of Texas since the B12 formed and it will be the end of the Sooners, sooner than later. leadership in Norman seems to be just as beguiled by the B1G promises that Nebraska was and that is sad enough in itself. B1G let Nebraska in the B1G then it was several B1G schools that had them kicked out of the AAU. Sooners look to be buying that same line of crap and if they go B1G they will have only themselves to blame.

When Slive offered Oklahoma the pair invite with Texas A&M in 2010 that was the offer to take. Not adding the Line Beards and somebody else and staying at 12 - and keeping their CCG - was probably their 2nd strike. The 3rd and final strike was not taking Kansas and heading to the PAC 14 and not leaving Oklahoma State and Kanas State in the rear view window. While it would have been lead pipe cruelty for the little brothers, it was the last move to make sense for the Sooner and Jayhawk survival.

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OU is a national program.

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So was Minnesota, and how much of a national program are they today?

Look, I can appreciate the long and proud history of the Sooners, but the more you live in the yesteryear thinking, the more you will be the next Minnesota.

They honestly aren't SEC material

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All of what you say is largely correct about the conferences, especially with regard to the B12 and its ridiculous CCG with a round robin schedule.

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Seems as the rank and file OU fans get this, yet it still seems to befuddle the actual decision makers

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But to compare OU to Minnesota? Really?

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Well I would say Michigan or Notre Dame just as easily. Neither has been a factor since the 80's and that was not exactly yesterday.

As for Minnesota, you just sort of scratched the surface. Between 1882 and WWII they had 2 seasons below .500! From 1900 to WW I their first "great coach" Henry Williams was winning close to 80% of his games and then he fell off the map with the player losses to WW I. Through the 1920's and 3 different coaches they were still pretty respectable. Basically they were good for about 50 years.

Granted their "golden" years were best remembered when Bernie left Tulane to coach Minnesota. He was the Saban of his age pre WW II and slipped greatly after WWI II. He was the first big time college coach to 3 peat a MNC and the rise of Ohio State after WW II seemed to be related to the decline of Minnesota and the elimination of Chicago football in the B1G. They still lingered on into the 60's and 70's and won a MNC in 1960 with Warmath as coach but they were never the Gophers of the pre WW I era under Williams or the Gophers of Bierman pre WW II.

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I am not sure I see where "yesteryear" thinking comes in play here.

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The problem about decline it is usually is not noticed until it is too late. The brand of Oklahoma is strong, but the brand of peers is dropping fast. In the Big 8 the Sooners and Cornhuskers were the alpha dogs and you had enough big state schools to keep the conference respectable. The B12 was probably a good transition except for two core decisions.

#1 Taking Baylor over Rice, TCU, Arkansas, or Tulane (pick 1, and best pick would be Arkansas).
#2 Letting the "base" move from Big 8 to SWC as evidenced by conference HQ from Big 8 to SWC and NCAA from Big 8 lands to B1G lands.

When I speak of yesteryear thinking, it mainly applies to not leaving when you had the chance. Nebraska broke up the band, but only because they believed what the B1G was selling. They are still a brand now, but in the B1G they will never be the Nebraska you probably grew up around. In short they traded who they were for the safety of the B1G and it will kill them. The tie to Texas will do the same to Oklahoma the longer it goes on. When you keep playing 2nd fiddle to Texas / SWC eventually the perception will be the reality. You may not see or believe this, but others can easily see it.

Arkansas left Texas and is better for it
Nebraska left Texas and is better for it
Colorado left Texas and is better for it
Texas A&M left Texas and is better for it
Missouri left Texas and I got nothing (kidding)



The decline is already going on, it just may be some time before it sinks in

Brands on the Decline since 1980
Michigan - post 1990's
Notre Dame - post Lou Holtz
Pedo State - post B1G membership
Nebraska - post B12 exit
Tennessee - post fat man
Georgia - post HW

Brands on the Rise since 1980
Florida State - with Natty after Bowden retired
Auburn
LSU
Florida
Miami - not back to the "U" and Richt success will bear watching
Clemson

Schools to watch
Georgia Tech (down but not out)
Pittsburgh (in the ACC they will go head to head with Pedo State)
Oregon (has the cash and connections but needs to win a Natty)
Louisville (first to truly understand the modern age of corporate control)
Utah (not as hard to break out in the PAC)

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NO matter what conference OU were to join SEC or not, it will become one of the elite programs in that conference.

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I think this is possible in the SEC or PAC without Texas
I think this is not possible in the B1G, with, or without Texas
Sooners in the ACC seems a stretch
Sooners in a shrinking B12 is a slow but sure decline

Lol Aggie fits better in SEC? Y'all are terrible

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The B12 was probably a good transition except for two core decisions. #1 Taking Baylor over Rice, TCU, Arkansas, or Tulane (pick 1, and best pick would be Arkansas).

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The Razorbacks had already whored themselves out to the SEC by that time. Try again.

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Nebraska broke up the band, but only because they believed what the B1G was selling. They are still a brand now, but in the B1G they will never be the Nebraska you probably grew up around. In short they traded who they were for the safety of the B1G and it will kill them.

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But then...

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Nebraska left Texas and is better for it

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?????

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Ever heard of the Buffalo Soldiers?

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You mean the former Black Union soldiers? Yes.

What, did you think they fought for the confederacy?

I lived in SC for 16 years (actually born in OKC) and just recently moved to GA. I made my profile when I still lived in SC.

Went to Alabama for undergrad and my avi pic is used simply to troll LSU fans.