The Big 12 has accepted UCF, Cincy, Houston, and BYU

[sheepdogs1]

If the SEC, in and of itself, were such a magical force, the conference's worst teams would be better than they are. Where's that big SEC bump in recruiting and on-field success for Mizzou, for example?

I will say this: When we do start SEC play, OU had better get off to a fast start. It doesn't necessarily take very long to lose blueblood status (don't believe me--just ask Nebraska). Go 8-4 or 9-3 three or four years in a row, with no major bowl appearances, and you're all but forgotten. Results like that won't help us attract all that southern talent.

We're stepping out of our comfort zone (and into a conference that has a pretty slimy culture), and we'd better show we can hang from the jump or we may have stepped out onto a slippery slope that leads to a long downward slide.

Are you measuring these teams based on conference play or non conference play for if it is on conference play then they are getting beat by the teams at the top of the conference. Tennessee year on year gets highly rated recruits. Why doesn't it manifest itself on the field? Perhaps LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Florida and Alabama have had a say in that. Then there's always the element of coaching which plays a role. The SEC either places more individuals in the NFL than other conferences or they don't and that should be an indicator of something which allows one to comfortably make comparisons. I mean ALL NFL teams have talent thus at the same time only so many teams can claim success. There are just too many variables at play to determine and explain why such things happen.

 

[Eielson]

NU's slide started before they left for the Big 10. Since Solich left Lincoln, NU has lost at least 4 games every season. That is 17 straight seasons and if they lose 4 this year, it will make 18. I have a tough time seeing OU having a poor run for that long.

We could quickly find ourselves losing blue-blood status in 17 years.

 

[skyvue]

NU's slide started before they left for the Big 10. Since Solich left Lincoln, NU has lost at least 4 games every season. That is 17 straight seasons and if they lose 4 this year, it will make 18. I have a tough time seeing OU having a poor run for that long.

OU has lost at least two games each of the past 17 seasons. If the Big 12 is as bad as so many of our fans insist it is and the SEC is as good as everyone says it is, is it so hard to imagine us losing one or two more games a year? Maybe not every season, but far more frequently than we'd like?

And if we do lose three or four games each of the first two or three seasons, what in the world would make a recruit who's also being pursued by George, Bama, Auburn and LSU (with all the special "benefits" that implies) decide to go with the new kids on the block when, at least in our first few seasons, we may have fallen short of the top tier of the conference?

Make no mistake: Money aside, we're taking a big risk. And to keep our heads above water, we may end up having to resort to the same slimy tactics for which many of us have criticized the SEC for so long. There are many OU fans who would be fine with that, if it happens, but I am not among them.

 

[152219]

We could quickly find ourselves losing blue-blood status in 17 years.

No way OU goes 17 years with 4+ loses each year. Heck, A&M has had multiple great seasons for their program, even better than what they had in the Big 12. OU isn't going to disappear.

 

[sheepdogs1]

OU has lost at least two games each of the past 17 seasons. If the Big 12 is as bad as so many of our fans insist it is and the SEC is as good as everyone says it is, is it so hard to imagine us losing one or two more games a year? Maybe not every season, but far more frequently than we'd like?

And if we do lose three or four games each of the first two or three seasons, what in the world would make a recruit who's also being pursued by George, Bama, Auburn and LSU (with all the special "benefits" that implies) decide to go with the new kids on the block when, at least in our first few seasons, we may have fallen short of the top tier of the conference?

Make no mistake: Money aside, we're taking a big risk. And to keep our heads above water, we may end up having to resort to the same slimy tactics for which many of us have criticized the SEC for so long. There are many OU fans who would be fine with that, if it happens, but I am not among them.

Luther Burden.

 

[hoopsaustin]

We could quickly find ourselves losing blue-blood status in 17 years.

Weak af

 

[152219]

OU has lost at least two games each of the past 17 seasons. If the Big 12 is as bad as so many of our fans insist it is and the SEC is as good as everyone says it is, is it so hard to imagine us losing one or two more games a year? Maybe not every season, but far more frequently than we'd like?

And if we do lose three or four games each of the first two or three seasons, what in the world would make a recruit who's also being pursued by George, Bama, Auburn and LSU (with all the special "benefits" that implies) decide to go with the new kids on the block when, at least in our first few seasons, we may have fallen short of the top tier of the conference?

Make no mistake: Money aside, we're taking a big risk. And to keep our heads above water, we may end up having to resort to the same slimy tactics for which many of us have criticized the SEC for so long. There are many OU fans who would be fine with that, if it happens, but I am not among them.

Comparing OU and Nebraska is foolish.

In those 17 seasons, OU won the Big 12 twelve times, has finished in the top 10 in the final rankings 11 times, played for a national title, and made the playoffs 4 other times. Nebraska hasn't won a conference title in the 2000s, has zero top 10 finishes in the past 17 years, and only finished the season ranked 6 times (5 times they were in the 20s in the rankings).

That doesn't even get into natural recruiting areas, which OU has multiple and NU has zero.

As for OU and bending the of the rules. Their compliance department is going to have to be more lenient with their NIL The NCAA is DEAD. I'm not saying OU needs bagmen running around, but the days of self reporting extra pasta need to end.

OU is going to have 4 loss teams a bit more often, but I don't see it being perennial or even close to it. More like once every 5 years.

 

[Sooner04]

We'll be fine as long as Riley sticks around. It's the next hire that has me worried. Our margin for error is significantly smaller with the move.

 

[152219]

We'll be fine as long as Riley sticks around. It's the next hire that has me worried. Our margin for error is significantly smaller with the move.

Agree, but I think that holds true for every school, including Alabama. We saw Bama in the mid '90s-early 2000s and how their program wandered (like OU's in the '90s).

A bad decade happens to even the bluebloods, but a bad 20 years does not. Nebraska is in close to a 20 year downturn and it doesn't look like any escape is in sight.

 

[skyvue]

Heck, A&M has had multiple great seasons for their program, even better than what they had in the Big 12. OU isn't going to disappear.

A&M has had two seasons that could be remotely be termed "great." They've lost four or more games in seven out of nine seasons since leaving the Big 12.

Here are their records for their seasons in the SEC and their final rankings.

2012 11–2 #5
2013 9–4 #18
2014 8–5 unranked
2015 8–5 unranked
2016 8–5 unranked
2017 7–6 unranked
2018 9–4 #16
2019 8–5 unranked
2020 9–1 #4

 

[152219]

A&M has had two seasons that could be remotely be termed "great." They've lost four or more games in seven out of nine seasons since leaving the Big 12.

Here are their records for their seasons in the SEC and their final rankings.

2012 11–2 #5
2013 9–4 #18
2014 8–5 unranked
2015 8–5 unranked
2016 8–5 unranked
2017 7–6 unranked
2018 9–4 #16
2019 8–5 unranked
2020 9–1 #4

Now, do the rest of their seasons in the 2000s that were spent in the Big 12. It isn't pretty (only 1 season did they finish ranked in the final poll).

In the history of A&M's program, they have 4 seasons in which they finished in the top 5 in the final AP poll.

1939- #1 (NC with Homer Norton)
1956- #5 (Bear Bryant was the coach)
2012- #5 (Manziel year)
2020- #4 (Jimbo)

That is it!! So, 1/2 of those top 5 finishes has occurred in the 9 years since they joined the SEC.

Amazing how pessimistic so many OU fans are.

 

[Eielson]

No way OU goes 17 years with 4+ loses each year. Heck, A&M has had multiple great seasons for their program, even better than what they had in the Big 12. OU isn't going to disappear.

It was a joke, as 17 years isn't "quick." It's two decades of mediocrity that got them to this point. Even still, if Nebraska won a national title, they would immediately be reinstated as a blue-blood.

 

[Eielson]

Make no mistake: Money aside, we're taking a big risk.

I'm puzzled by how many people seem to think standing still is a risk-free option -- few things are further from the truth. In any field with a high-level of competition, you're either adjusting and improving, or you're falling behind. The college football landscape is changing rapidly and we can't pause that.

Taking a 20-30M paycut compared to the SEC teams would have been the riskiest move we could have made.

 

[Max Power]

Now, do the rest of their seasons in the 2000s that were spent in the Big 12. It isn't pretty (only 1 season did they finish ranked in the final poll).

In the history of A&M's program, they have 4 seasons in which they finished in the top 5 in the final AP poll.

1939- #1 (NC with Homer Norton)
1956- #5 (Bear Bryant was the coach)
2012- #5 (Manziel year)
2020- #4 (Jimbo)

That is it!! So, 1/2 of those top 5 finishes has occurred in the 9 years since they joined the SEC.

Amazing how pessimistic so many OU fans are.

only once in the big 12 did they finish with less that 4 losses, 1998 when the went 11-3

 

[Eielson]

only once in the big 12 did they finish with less that 4 losses, 1998 when the went 11-3

Anybody who still pretends A&M hasn't benefited from the SEC move can't be reasoned with.

 

[thebigabd]

Anybody who still pretends A&M hasn't benefited from the SEC move can't be reasoned with.

Eielson.... I like you. You're a good guy.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Speaking of Nebraska, did they just make bad choices when they hired coaches or did they offer better coaches but couldn't entice them to come to Lincoln?

We've been fortunate. We were on Stoops' radar before Blake was fired and Iowa blew their chance at hiring him. Then, Bob and Joe C. recognized Riley's potential early on and didn't hesitate when Bob decided to retire.

 

[Sooner04]

OU football has made a living hiring quality assistants to be the HC. Lots of other schools flail at making the flashy hire. It'll be interesting to see what we do when Lincoln finally answers the siren song emanating from the Death Star down in Frisco.

 

[skyvue]

1/2 of those top 5 finishes has occurred in the 9 years since they joined the SEC.

Credit doesn't go to the SEC for A&M's 2012 season -- that was the Big 12's A&M (one could argue 2013 was too). Manziel committed to be an Aggie long before it was announced they were going to the SEC and he was enrolled and on campus eight months before that announcement.

And I never said A&M performed better in the Big 12 -- I was responding to a statement that they had enjoyed "multiple great seasons" in the SEC. That's a stretch.

I'm making no predictions about how it'll go for OU in the SEC -- I could see it going either way. But anyone who doesn't at least see potential for things to not go as well as many of our fans think they will is in denial.

And the notion that the majority of OU fans will be a-ok with three- and four-loss seasons even occasionally is amusing. I was around when the legend, Barry "The King" Switzer, quickly found himself on the hot seat after just a couple of seasons like that. Our fans have become no less demanding since then.

 

[mict085]

We could quickly find ourselves losing blue-blood status in 17 years.

We could. It’s possible. The key is hiring great people and investing heavily in the programs. With the financial windfall coming, investment shouldn’t be a problem. So, hiring great people is key. Our natural recruiting grounds have plenty of talent to win.

The difference now is performance. The pressure will be cranked up considerably. If coaches don’t get results, they will be replaced. So, the key is hiring great people, as it is with every organization.