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Savannah State, Florida A&M Are Okay Late Adds
Published: 7/7/2012 1:27 PM
Last Modified: 7/7/2012 1:27 PM

There is no need to criticize Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, or any other Big 12 schools, for the late additions to the non-conference schedule.
Big 12 teams were put in a spot to get a late addition as two schools decided to exit the league last fall.
As a result, the Sooners and Cowboys did wind up with a couple of non-conference games that probably should not be on the schedule.
OU plays Florida A&M and OSU faces Savannah State.
In a normal season, it wouldn’t be proper for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to play schools that will be far over their heads. Florida A&M should not be playing Norman. Savannah State should not have a game in Stillwater.
They are on the schedule because the two state schools needed last-minute replacements on the schedule.
Yes, OU and OSU probably could have added a high quality opponent.
However, given the challenge of the Big 12 schedule, that might be over-scheduling your team.
The Sooners and Cowboys are adding West Virginia and TCU, two teams that have routinely been in the top 10 in recent years. So, adding two high quality teams probably gives you the reasons to go light on the non-conference schedule.
Still, OU will face Notre Dame and goes to UTEP to open the season. OSU goes to Arizona and gets Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sun Belt champion, in Stillwater.
So, before we complain too much about Florida A&M and Savannah State, we’ll try to balance the need for quality games with the need to build a manageable schedule.
Fans don’t normally complain about victories, regardless of the opponent.



Reader Comments 4 Total
Opus (7 months ago)
Louisiana A&M MudRats, or whatever. That works for me.
IrvinTulsa (7 months ago)
Scheduling wise this will be an "off" year for the Big 12. There is a reason and it is because every team lost two games from the departure of MU and aTm. It is not that easy to schedule quality opponents on short notice. The SEC will seldom schedule a Big 12 team because they know there is a good chance of losing. This years Big 12 schedule is still at least as good/tough as most of the programs in the SEC. On top of all that, the Big 12 has better/tougher conference opponents than the members of SEC have to face.
217719 (7 months ago)
Didm'y OU play Idaho State with A&M & Mizzou on the schedule? Or was that because Colorado bailed on the Longhorn League too?
chiefb1 (7 months ago)
Yes it was when Colo. and Neb. left. Still we played tougher sch. than the boys of the espn league (SEC)! Espn began lobbying for a rematch of LSU and ALA. as soon as the first game was over! Because they new OSU could play with and/or beat either one of the espn lea. teams!
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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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