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Doomsday Scenario for OU, OSU
Published: 9/13/2011 2:16 PM
Last Modified: 9/14/2011 1:58 PM


Not playing in the same conference as Texas is bad news for Bob Stoops and Oklahoma. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World

Where are the fans protesting the looming nightmare?

Where are the so-called experts demanding an immediate rethinking?

If OU and OSU make the biggest mistake in sports history by going to the Pac Ten without Texas, and a state of Texas connection, Sooner and Cowboy football will fall off the map. Fast.

Why would a Texas high school star go to a school that doesn't play in his state? Or plays only in Lubbock? Why would a parent of a Texas high school star want a son playing in Utah? Or the upper northwest?

Quality recruiting would cease in Texas immediately. They're probably using the thought of such idiocy against OU already.

Could anybody actually be stupid enough to abandon Taxas as a prime recruiting site?

If it happens, OU will never again be number one, OSU number eight.


Reader Comments 26 Total
Pokefan519 (last year)
Totally disagree. Both teams did it before the Big XII when games weren't broadcast on TV every week. Sure, OU did it more often than OSU, which OSU fans are reminded of daily by OU fans. But it will happen again.

If UT stays with a mutilated Big XII or goes independent, what are they going to be selling recruits? Recruits would rather play USC, Oregon, and Stanford than Iowa St., Kansas, and the requisite cruddy team they get to replace OU and OSU.
208675 (last year)
And TU will get better recruits because they will remain one of the few who actually play in Texas. Well said Picker.
The Picker (last year)
Without Texas recruits, OU and OSU will come back to the also-ran pack. OSU itself has more Texas recruits than almost the entire SEC! No wonder Pickens and Switzer are about to faint. The Texas schools will freeze OU and OSU out. Pokefan, without a serious Texas connection, you'll be racing stock cars in that fancy new stadium. Wake up before it's too late.
jcat (last year)
Jay, I agree with you, but where do you think UT will end up? Big10? ACC? Indy?

None of the above. They will head west as well.

Take a deep breath...
The Picker (last year)
Texas is that dumb, dumb enough to lock in with Utah, the Arizona clowns, and the Pacific northwest?
mgsooner13 (last year)
Who knew that the Picker was 15 years old? He obviously has no recollection of the decades and decades before the Big XII started when OU was able to recruit Texas just fine. LOL @ saying "Switzer is about to faint" when Switzer never played in a league that had a Texas team in it. Please try to stop being such an idiot.
The Picker (last year)
OU hasn't played Texas every year since birth?

You think from difference conferences Texas would be nice to OU and OSU?

Or freeze them out?

Have fun recruiting Boot Strap, Kansas and Chicken Neck, Ark.

Moving to the Rat Pac Ten would be the worst move in the history of sports. Start driving now and honk when you get to Utah.
mgsooner13 (last year)
If they go to a different conference, who says that OU won't still play Texas? Before the Big 12 they played each other in non-conf, why can't they do it again? I promise you that if Texas doesn't follow to the Pac Whatever and becomes an independent they are going to need to play OU a heck of a lot more than OU will need to play them. Stop being such a short-sighted reactionary moron. Wait, that's your "schtick". Nevermind.
MexiMike (last year)
Second verse, same as first.

The "I hate change!" Picker is once again looking at this from the wrong angle.

What else are OU and OSU supposed to do? Stick around and watch the walls crumble around them? The Big 12 is DONE. The sooner people can get that through their heads, the better.

Now with that said, The Pick is definitely being short sided. First of all, Texas can (and probably will) come to the PAC as well. But even if they don't, what's to stop OU and OSU from setting up annual non-conference games with them?

Also, both OU and OSU can still play non-conference games in Texas (Houston, TCU, Rice, SMU, etc.) as well. That will keep the pipeline open for recruiting too.

Beyond that, OU and OSU will still get Texas recruits due to the proximity of the schools to that state. Presently, players' families that live in Texas make it to every single home game in Norman and Stillwater so why would that change?

Again, Picker hyperbole mixed with conspiracy sensationalism is never anything to put much stock into. OU and OSU will do great in the PAC whatever--much better in fact than staying in the dying Big 12.
The Picker (last year)
Here's all OU, OSU and LA have in common: they don't like earthquakes.
colhi64 (last year)
I have to go with the Picker on this one. Texas kids want to either play at Tex U, or play against them. If OU/OSU move on, and Texas doesn't I am afraid we will see the Picker is correct. The only out is to have Texas as a non conference game like they have in the past, plus they need to play teams like Houston or UTEP. Keep the Texas pipe line open orwe will dry up.
OSUNDN (last year)
It seems to me like you Picker and the rest think that just because the conference moves out west, we're taking the state with us. I'm guessing the state boundries will remain and recruiters can still go to Texas and maybe, just maybe, say "wouldn't it be nice to play in southern California sometimes?? Come on. OU boosters will still pay to get the families to the west coast games like always.
Think Tank (last year)
100 percent big time correct Picker. That is why what is really going on may be one of these scenarios:

1)Big Bluff....a planned negotiating stance with Texas, never meant to be followed through. That is why Gundy, Stoops and other "unnamed university sources" have hinted in that direction.

2)Texas aked OU and OSU to play this card publicly. They are really all incahoots. Texas needs to improve it's public image and there are a lot of behind the scenes negotiating going on with networks using conference middle men. Oh, and somebody is trying real hard not to loose money in a lawsuit or even have their imaged tarnished by the publicity from experiencing one.

Historically, look at the conference crises last year. OU and OSU jumped on board with Texas' wishes. Read some of those qoutes and you can get a hint of what may really be going on. It was a band of brothers.
Tulsan in Exile (last year)
TU's recent success demonstrates the importance of the recruiting connections the Picker is talking about. When Tulsa started in C-USA, the quality of recruits increased dramatically because of the geographic proximity. Move Tulsa to the Big East (which is only marginally better than C-USA) and they would win two games a year. The families and friends of the kids you recruit have to be supportive. There is no way OU and OSU will recruit Texas kids if they play only a handful of games within 500 miles of home, and the rest two time zones away. A move to the Pac-10 would be a disaster for both schools.
soonerk (last year)
Picker is right. OU-Texas should not head anywhere near PAC-12....stay here and keep what they have going. This is the best rivalry in the country.
Soonertrain (last year)
Picker is right and any other conclusion is idiotic.
jhpoke (last year)
Does anyone care about any of the other sports besides football. The cost of going to the west coast will be outrageous. The increased revenue of the Pacific 12 will probably never catch up with the cost. They will never accept a bunch of okies. Please picker, convince these people that the PAC 12 is not the answer.
tulsandn (last year)
Don't go to the PAC10,11,12,13,14,15,16 or whatever they are, because it's too far away, don't go to the SEC because it's too scary over there, don't stay in the Big 8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15 because it's a dying conference owned & regulated by Texas, don't do this don't do that, eenie, meeni, minee, mo, which way will OU & Okie St. go ????

It don't matter me, I don't care, because however it all happens, there will be a OU, Okie St. game on my TV next fall broadcasting from somewhere.... I don't care who they play because I'll be cheering in my living room in S.E. Oklahoma whatever the case may be.... There will also be an NFL game on the next day, so my love of football will satisfied no matter what....
dcood (last year)
ok tulsandn, we get your point. However, there are some people who dont live in lil dixie to whom this move truly affects their lives...classic 'bury my head in the sand' mentality.
IraqVet0608 (last year)
your crazy.....Nebraska has a MAJOR pipeline from California and they RARELY play in Cali. Kids go to NEB to play for a powerhouse. Kids will continue to go to OU because they are stinkin good at football. sure we would love to see the big 12 (9) stick together. hey, I never wanted my Cornhuskers to leave but the truth is that the days of the BIG12(9) are numbered and recruiting wont be greatly effected as long as schools like OU and OSU can continue playing quality ball.
The Picker (last year)
Nebraska still plays major college football?
JED (last year)
WELL SAID PICKER!!!! Finally a media member giving us some common sense. OU and OSU in the Pac 12 WITHOUT a Texas school is the STUPIDEST thing these schools could do.
JED (last year)
IF OU feels compelled to change conferences, they should go to the SEC where they belong. It's a geographic and cultural fit that is so perfect it is dumbfounding the OU leadership can't see it (or refuses to). As an OU alum and football season ticket holder, I never thought I would see the day OU is afraid of competition.
D.Wade (last year)
The Conservative greed gene (I gots mine!) that runs rampant in Oklahoma and Texas has brought this to a head. Ah you conservatives never fail to amuse me, now y'all's only care about your self mentality will run you clear out to your worst nightmare, Libland. Or more likely force Texas to, gulp, share some of what shouldn't have been all theirs to begin with. Yea Oklahoma stepped up to the same trough, I hadn't forgot my Team in this mess. Like it or not college, athletics is a pure socialist, or tries to be, entity. Everyone crying for level playing field but not really if it means their school gets ahead. Pick, like you I have always defended your stance about Texas OU game being the well spring from which all good things Sooner flow. But I would love to see the rest of college football freeze out Texas. Let them play with themselves for awhile.
love 918 (last year)
Just when I think OU fans have no rationale or good sense...JED reminds me that 5% of OU fans are good people who enjoy football.

I bet JED wakes up the morning after an OU loss and still has a life. Very unusual.
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The Picker began entertaining – and infuriating – sports fans in 1993. Each week during football season, he writes about his picks of college and NFL games in his Thursday Sports column. He's never afraid of sharing his opinions about the game and the personalities who play it. Readers have a chance to go against him each season in the Outpick the Picker contest. He welcomes the competition.

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