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Oklahoma Football: 3 Reasons why Sooners aren’t leaving Big 12

By Michael Collins

Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners ruf-nek carries an Oklahoma flag after a score against the Texas Longhorns during Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners ruf-nek carries an Oklahoma flag after a score against the Texas Longhorns during Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 8, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the stadium and game program before the game between theTexas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners at Cotton Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 8, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the stadium and game program before the game between theTexas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners at Cotton Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /

Killing Off Rivalries

The Big 12 is Texas and Oklahoma, and both of those programs will have to remain in place for the conference to be sustainable.

Regardless of how many upstart programs such as Baylor and TCU have pockets of success, and no matter how many almost-but-no-cigar seasons come out of Stillwater and Manhattan, the eyes of the Big 12 will always look to the Longhorns and Sooners.

By joining the SEC, Missouri and Texas A&M already killed off two classic college football rivalries – the Border War between Kansas and Missouri, and the annual Texas-Texas A&M showdown. Moving Oklahoma to another conference (SEC or otherwise) would likely put the kibosh on two more classic games.

There isn’t a visible scenario where the powers surrounding college football would let the Red River Showdown (or Classic, or Rivalry, or Shootout, or whatever they’re calling it this week) or Bedlam become ghosts of rivalries past. Nor would Oklahoma State and Texas care to lose the revenue from such big fan and network draws.

Texas and Oklahoma are joined at the hip in the Big 12, and unless they both bolt and completely dismantle the conference, it’s a pretty safe bet that they’ll remain in place.

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