Bob Stoops did not hesitate to put Oklahoma State in its place.

Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!

One day after announcing their intentions not to renew their status as members of the Big 12 Conference, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns each submitted formal requests for future SEC membership.

Shortly following the news of OU and UT’s membership request, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement explaining how the university presidents and chancellors will soon convene to consider the formal applications from Oklahoma and Texas. Per Southeastern Conference bylaws, at least three fourths (min. 11 schools) of the current 14-team league must vote yes in order to welcome any new applicants into the SEC.

For now, all sides involved have continued to cite 2025 as the final year of Oklahoma and Texas’ current grant of rights agreement with the Big 12, but that date is becoming increasingly more suspect as the hours and days go by. In all likelihood, the Sooners and Longhorns will be official members of the SEC as early as the 2022-23 athletic season if not soon thereafter. In any case, stay tuned for further updates on this rapidly developing situation.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! ESPN’s LHN will help make OU and Texas’ transition to the SEC much smoother, watch list season stays hot, Mizzou’s AD steps down and more!

OU Links

• Speaking of realignment, Bob Stoops has given his two cents on the situation. To put it mildly, he’s heavily in favor of the move. One thing that stood out was his lack of hesitancy to put Oklahoma State in its place.

• This story just keeps becoming more incredible. Basically, the Longhorn Network (owned by ESPN) has turned out to be a very beautiful thing for Oklahoma after all because it means getting out of the Big 12 contract early won’t break the bank in Norman. Thanks, Texas! Wow, I almost gagged while typing that out. But seriously, good looking out, y’all.

• On Tuesday, junior EDGE Nik Bonitto, senior DL Isaiah Thomas and senior Perrion Winfrey were each named to the 2021 Nagurski Trophy Watch List. This honor is reserved for the nation’s top overall defensive player.

• In other awards news, senior OL Marquis Hayes, senior OL Tyrese Robinson and senior DL Perrion Winfrey were each named to the 2021 Outland Trophy Watch List. This honor is reserved for the nation’s top offensive or defensive interior lineman.

• Earlier this week, junior LB Brian Asamoah and junior EDGE Nik Bonitto were each named to the 2021 Butkus Award Watch List. This honor is annually presented to the nation’s top linebacker.

• The Minnesota Vikings have signed former Biletnikoff Award winning OU WR Dede Westbrook. Now he’ll compete throughout this preseason for a spot on the team’s 53-man roster set to be determined shortly before the 2021 NFL regular season kicks off.

Around the Sports World

• After five years in the position, Missouri Tigers Athletic Director Jim Sterk is reportedly stepping down from his role in Columbia.
• Former Oklahoma State Cowboys star Cade Cunningham — the expected No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2021 NBA Draft — has signed an endorsement deal with Nike.
• The Washington Capitals have recently re-signed 35-year-old NHL legend Alex Ovechkin to a five-year, $47.5 million contract.
• Former Ohio State and Miami QB Tate Martell has reportedly joined the UNLV Rebels of the Mountain West Conference as an ‘athlete’. Amazingly, he still has two years of eligibility remaining after opting out of the 2020 season.

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To not leave for the SEC puts nearly a century of commitment to college football at risk for the Sooners.

The Oklahoma Sooners are something of an anomaly in the world of college football.

Oklahoma isn’t a wealthy state. It doesn’t have a huge population base within its borders. You can drive from Norman to the Dallas Metroplex in a couple hours, but that’s about the extent of the football program’s natural advantages.

The Sooners have one of the richest histories in the sport, however, because the team became a source of pride for a downtrodden state nearly a century ago. They win big consistently thanks to a foundation laid by decades of sweat equity and support from people who haven’t had much spare. All fans like to think there’s something special about the relationship between their favorite teams and their states or communities. That’s more true about Oklahoma than most anywhere else.

As the Sooners prepare to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC, it’s worth noting that OU isn’t offering fertile recruiting territory or big TV markets. By adding Oklahoma to its ranks, the SEC is getting a product that will further burnish its reputation as the elite of the elite in college football. Quality is OU’s value proposition, in other words.

That also explains why the Big 12 has given the Sooners a great home – a much better one than it seems to get credit for. Its members may not all have access to the best raw materials, but their commitment to playing quality football manifests itself in a culture of innovation throughout the league.

In the process, the Big 12 has become the dominant influence on how football is played at all levels in the modern era. Many of its programs consistently punch well above their weight as a result. Despite having a better roster year in and year out, the Sooners have been forced to push the strategic envelope in their own right to stay on top of the conference.

That makes OU’s imminent defection to the SEC feel — in a sense — pretty shitty. Seeing OU take part in hastening the corporatization of college football is bad enough. It’s worse knowing how this move will likely impact the other Big 12 teams even though they didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, they did a lot right to help turn Big 12 football into something far more interesting than watching teams like Tennessee and LSU beat each other over the head for four quarters.

So would everyone be happier overall if OU had a change of heart? Some would say ‘yes’, and that includes some Sooner fans who have become accustomed to annual conference championships and double-digit wins.

But for better or worse, college football and the Sooners matter a lot to the school, its fan and the state of Oklahoma. Given the direction of the sport, to not make a move to the SEC now risks consigning the Sooners to a future in which everything they’ve built over time fades away. It’s become clear in recent years that a move elsewhere is simply a matter of financial survival. It’s not a choice that feels good, but there really isn’t a choice to be made.

It’s officially official. Oklahoma intends to leave the Big 12 Conference.

On a balmy Monday morning, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns released a joint statement notifying the Big 12 Conference of their intentions not to renew their grants of media rights that are set to expire in 2025.

Since this whirlwind of a news cycle first began to roll last Wednesday, this was the expected next step for both OU and UT. Now, all signs point to the SEC being the destination site at the end of all of this.

So when will this move officially come into effect? Well, while Oklahoma and Texas ‘intend to honor’ their respective GOR agreements by remaining in the Big 12 through 2025, there is a very real chance that a transition could be made much sooner. Look no further than the wording. The unpredictable nature of this ‘rapidly evolving collegiate athletic landscape’ will ultimately dictate the speed of development as much as anything else, and with so many other programs involved, contractual adjustments are all but a foregone conclusion.

What we can say for certain is that this is officially the beginning of the end for the Big 12 as we know it. Whether the league can salvage what’s left of itself and add enough teams to hold its seat at the college football table is still to be determined. As for the SEC, the dawn of super conferences appears to be upon us. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point over the next calendar year the Big Ten, ACC and/or the Pac-12 follow suit to expand their own leagues. Whatever the case may be, and however it all shakes out, it figures to be a wild ride.

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Texas A&M fans get mad, sad, then accept the future.

After a few days of exciting conference realignment talk, I thought it would be fun to look back on the message boards of an opposing fan base to see how they were taking it. What awaits you below the dividing line in this post are some of the best reactions of Texas A&M Aggies fans (via the message boards on TexAgs & Gig’em 247 ) as they watched their sole bragging rights of chanting “S-E-C” start slipping through their fingers as the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are likely to join the SEC in the future. LET’S GET IT. (Note: Spelling errors are theirs, not ours)

• For some reason I think the $$$ will be too hard to say no to. I hope we do not expand.
• I’m ready to beat Texas **** again
• I’d be very shocked if Texas was approved.
• So they would need 11 to vote for it? A&M, Arkansas, Mizzou— Are all voting no.
• Ou won’t go anywhere without osu. No way sec takes them both.
• Bama would not be for it either.
• slive must be like voldemort.
• I love all the speculation around what the divisions would be. I see a lot of us, ou, texas, and mizz being in the same division. so we would basically have 3 of the same opponents as the last conference we were in LOL what absolute s-h-i-t deal that would be
• I think most fans on this board recognize (or at least I hope they do) that this would be an utter disaster for us
• Nothing brings out the idiotism in our fan base than talks of Texas & OU in the SEC
• People need to take a step back. Yes. This isn’t good for us and naturally we should be against it. But the melt this is causing is overdone. This isn’t 2011. We are going to be fine either way
• I’m getting the feeling that this is going to happen. Very glad we hired Jimbo before this went down.
• The SEC is our strongest, perhaps only, card against OU/Texas on the recruiting trail until we win something. The recruiting landscape would change instantly (in a bad way) overnight.
• I believe A&M will continue to win because of everything else A&M has to offer, but I guess you feel differently.
• I don’t want tu or ou to join simply because it helps them. I don’t care so much about ou, but my hope is that tu’s football program is basically non-existent in the next few decades.
• Do you really believe A&M had no idea this was happening if it was close to a done deal. A&M could absolutely be leaking it to try to stop it.
• Texas is blocked. Plain and simple. There was an agreement when we joined. This is click bait and nothing more.
• Baylor won’t allow it to happen.
• This is simply Texas and OU lawyers positioning for a bigger contract this coming go round. Actual invite to SEC was not happening and never was.
• I think there are real legs to this. Obviously we are worried or we wouldnt have leaked it. the CFB fan in my is excited about the conference but it clearly is worse for us. To be fair though, we dominated the 90s while in the same conference
• Why are people on this board so weird about Oklahoma?
• Better yet, why do people on this board even give a F about Oklahoma.
• We don’t want to give away our monopoly on SEC in texas, but the reality is that texas’s overall culture will keep them tripping over their own dicks (at least not to NC level), and we can compete/recruit against anybody now.
• You are in denial if you don’t think this helps their recruiting. The best want to play against the best. This is why the Big 12 is struggling. Sure they are getting good classes now. But this only ups the game for them
• It’s not that we’re afraid of TU at all and the arrogance of TU is not surprising. They aren’t going to show up and run things. We’ve just seen what they’ve done to the big 12 and SWC and the feeling is they really just don’t deserve to follow in OUR footsteps. OU, who gives a *****? Bring them in. They deserve better than TU’s Big 12 anyway. A&M is in a good position. “It ain’t like it used to be”
• Sounds like some back tracking to me after you all realized that A&M has zero leverage or control in this situation. You should have taken this stance before all this went down. The outside perception has now become A&M is crying and pitching a fit.
• Uh, that’s certainly not the perception. A&M is learning a hard lesson here… basically, don’t throw a crying temper tantrum.
• It was never a fear of playing them. It is a legitimate concern that our differentiator in the state for recruiting and relevance could become moot and we’re better off without them. But all said and done I think it makes too much sense for the SEC to grab two premier programs if they’re available.
• I still think we aren’t actually worried about it though. I think there’s more to it than being afraid to lose
• Break the Gentleman’s agreement, here are the consequences:

1. No courtesy suites for visiting admins and distinguished alumni
2. visiting fans split up in the worst seats possible, 250 to a section
3. the visiting locker rooms become extra shitty, immediately. One toilet, one sink, cold water only. Straight up petty stuff.
4. All visiting charters land at Hobby
5. Visitor walk throughs allowed between 6 am and 8 am only

• You have to pick your battles. This is over. We lost. Which is OK. This isn’t some massive, program ending blow. But doing ***** like this just makes us a complete and total laughing stock. This is dumb. This is a really bad look
• What message are we trying to send with this meeting? OU and Texas are going to be admitted to the SEC soon. Moving to this conference allowed us to become a better program, please don’t tell me we are considering alternative solutions here
• Hopefully this is just posturing and we aren’t actually considering suing the SEC.
• It just a f***ing meeting. Chill out.
• Oral contracts are enforceable in Texas
• Clicked on a story that had a link to other boards. We look like the 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of Walmart to everyone right now. Nut up and show it on the field. This looks bad for recruiting, our fan base, and our university.
• You have this meeting to show you are not going to roll over and to get some scheduling guarantees from the conference. If we just accept it, we look weak. This is about strengthening our position.
• Understand something: If A&M gets in front of this…like it’s Chinese tank in Tianmmen Square….it will cost the SEC significant money and power as a the world’s first superconference which hurts A&M and the its league brethren. In fact, let’s say that A&M somehow derailed this and Texas and OU went to the ACC this costing the membership revenues and the SEC power at the negotiating table in shaping the future of college football football. You really want to go there?
• Why did Sankey hide expansion from A&M?
• Consider this possible line of thinking— adding t.u. and OU causes a situation where our 3 schools divide up recruits, thus keeping all of us somewhat stifled relative to traditional SEC blue bloods (primarily bama). As a result, they keep an edge on all 3 of us. Coincidence that this went town as A&M is creeping up on Bama? Maybe not.
• Cool maybe Oklahoma can get rid of all 46 or however many straight big 12 titles in the trash and actually win something meaningful.

OU and Texas appear destined for the SEC. Texas A&M apparently wasn’t involved in the discussions.

Happy Friday, friends and fans!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you likely have heard all about how the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are currently at the forefront of the college sports world. On Wednesday, it was revealed that both programs have been in talks with the SEC for quite some time, and apparently those talks involve leaving the Big 12 for greener pastures in the near future.

It’s honestly pretty hilarious how Texas A&M Aggies was left out of these discussions that reportedly began more than six months ago. For all the chest-thumping, S-E-C-chanting and coattail-riding they do on an annual basis, apparently their input wasn’t deemed valuable nor necessary for the rest of the league to consider while deliberating on such a seismic decision. Sorry not sorry, Jimbo.

On Thursday, it was reported by CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd and others that athletic directors and university presidents across the Big 12 Conference were scheduled to meet in the afternoon to discuss this rapidly developing situation. Once the call was underway, it was discovered that administrative representatives for both OU and Texas were not present. How telling is that bit of news? At this stage, I’d say quite.

Obviously there will be a lot more to come from this story in the coming hours, days and weeks. The possible ramifications on a move this major are virtually boundless. From the sound of things, folks at Oklahoma are fed up and have been fed up with the way things are going in the Big 12 for quite some time, and they can see the potential merits of joining the deep and powerful SEC. Time will tell all, so for now, we wait.

Now onto this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! Watch list season continues, Ronnie P. signs the dotted line, game forfeitures are on the table in the NFL this season and more!

OU Links

• Amid all the commotion between Oklahoma, Texas and the SEC on Wednesday, Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel analyzed what could become the biggest conference shift in the history of college football. So far, there doesn’t appear to be much resistance in the way if all parties involved are truly on board, especially considering the amount of money that can be made for everyone in the long run.

• In case you missed it, C&C Machine’s own Allen Kenney wrote about many of the potential implications that could come with OU making a move to the Southeastern Conference, including the possible pitfalls.
• On Thursday, sophomore WR Marvin Mims and Arkansas transfer Mike Woods were each named to the 2021 Biletnikoff Award Watch List.

• In related news, redshirt junior RB Kennedy Brooks and Tennessee transfer Eric Gray were each recently named to the 2021 Doak Walker Award Watch List.

• On Wednesday, redshirt senior H-back Jeremiah Hall was announced as a nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team.

• Earlier this week, former OU DE Ronnie Perkins officially put pen to paper with the New England Patriots. After being selected in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, the talented defensive end has now signed a four-year rookie contract with the Pats.

Around the Sports World

• Cleveland’s pro baseball team has officially changed its name from the ‘Indians’ to the Cleveland Guardians. Well done, y’all.

• I can already envision some salty fans after their team takes an official loss this season all because their favorite NFL team couldn’t reschedule a game after a COVID-19 outbreak. This could cause quite the shake up indeed.

• In other COVID-related news, Washington State Cougars head coach Nick Rolovich has elected to not receive the vaccination and as a result is attending Pac-12 Media Days remotely.
• The San Francisco 49ers have signed LB Fred Warner to five-year, $95 million contract extension, officially making him the highest paid linebacker in the league.
• After eight seasons in the league, Pittsburgh Steelers LB Vince Williams announced his retirement from playing pro football on Wednesday.
• The Iowa Hawkeyes are naming the team’s football field after former All-American Duke Slater, who later became one of the first African Americans to play in the NFL.

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ESPN’s role, possible leverage plays, the downsides and more.

Believe it when the ink is on the contract.

If you took anything away from the conference realignment hijinks of the early 2010s, that should be it. It certainly applies to Wednesday’s earth-shaking report from Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle that Oklahoma and Texas have been talking with the SEC about defecting from the Big 12 ($).

With that in mind:

1. The number of other well-connected reporters like Stadium’s Brett McMurphy who are backing Zwerneman’s reporting indicate the idea has serious traction; and
2. Don’t take that as a prediction this will happen.

So who’s up for some scattershot reactions?

Cue the music…

I didn’t have any inside information when I wrote last month about the fault lines developing around the Big 12. Frankly, it didn’t take a genius to suss out OU’s dissatisfaction with its conference situation. I couldn’t have imagined we’d be talking about this just a few weeks later, though.

Many Sooner fans are surely rejoicing at the prospect of OU taking off for the SEC. I’m not really one of them. The Big 12 may fall short in the demographics department, but the league has had a place in the vanguard of the sport thanks to its innovative coaches and the desire of its members to play quality football. The Sooners had a big hand in building that along with decades-old partners; bouncing for another conference would feel like squatting in someone else’s house.

OU isn’t Texas A&M of 10 years ago. It doesn’t need to draft off the SEC brand to thrive. And seeing as I won’t get a dime from this potential move, I don’t give a damn about how much money it would generate for OU’s program.

On the other hand…

I get it.

There are the benefits of adding the SEC allure to OU’s brand on the recruiting trail. Moreover, there is the money – I may not receive any of it, but I realize it takes lots of it to compete at the highest levels of the sport. Then there’s the opportunity to beef up the home schedule, which seems to be the source of most complaining I hear from dedicated fans.

Most importantly, though, you can’t deny that the structural changes that have taken place over time in college football. It has become a national product, and the Big 12 is a distinctly regional conference. That disconnect makes life hard for a program intent on competing for national titles.

Check with the boss

Max Gersh / The Commercial Appeal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Hopefully you gave up long ago on the illusion that anyone besides ESPN runs college football. If the Worldwide Leader wants this, it will probably happen.

And how could Mickey not want this? Taking OU and Texas out of the Big 12 strikes a serious blow to the competition, as FOX relies on Big 12 matchups featuring those two marquee brands to provide some of its most marketable programming every season. Meanwhile, the network would add two fan-crazy programs exclusively to its already lucrative SEC inventory. It would create the closest thing we’ll get to pro football on Saturdays.

In summary, look for ESPN to work hard make this a reality – and throw mountains of cash at the SEC in the process.

Who’s the rat?

An intriguing question: Why did this story leak?

The most likely answer: A&M wanted to throw a wrench in the plans.

An A&M beat reporter broke the news. A&M athletic director Ross Bjork just so happened to be at SEC Media Days on Wednesday. The story dropped right as head coach Jimbo Fisher was taking the podium for his opening statement.

All kinds of coincidental.

Bjork made it abundantly clear the Aggies want to keep OU and Texas out of the club. Leaking the story sets the stage for the political wrangling that helped spike the formation of the Pac-16 back in the day. At the very least, A&M brass can tell boosters they tried.

I’m all ears for a better explanation.

Alternative worlds

Getting back to the stuff about ink on contracts…

Making eyes at the SEC could theoretically open up other avenues for the Sooners and Longhorns. For example, perhaps FOX would throw more money at the Big 12 to keep the two heavyweights in place? Good idea, but it wouldn’t solve the larger structural issues with the league.

Try to pick off teams from the Pac-12? For all the unrest out west, few Pac-12 programs could add the needed heft to the Big 12.

The biggest variable is in Chicago, though. If the Big Ten decided to get involved, OU would have to listen at minimum. But bear in mind that UT’s contract with ESPN could preclude Texas from moving to the FOX-affiliated B1G. (N.B., I’m not a lawyer.) In that case, the Sooners may not like the prospect of Horns in the SEC without them.

Most likely, however, this is exactly what it seems. The smart money says we’ll see OU and Texas in the SEC in a few years, but wait until the ink is dry.