1. The Red River Rivalry may end up being the biggest game of the year during the regular season for college football on a much more consistent basis (think early 2000's and several other time-periods).
2. This helps Texas much more than Oklahoma. This is somewhat of a temporary observation, but I would think this gives an additional boost to Texas recruiting more than OU's (even though it'll benefit OU's recruiting). I theorize this primarily based on recent recruiting/on-the-field performance. The better you get, the less room there is to improve. Also, any pro-state-of-Texas high school athlete that would've normally chosen A&M instead of Texas because of the SEC is now Texas's (think Mac Brown’s closing the borders philosophy—this will help them in that regard). A better Texas means a bigger rivalry (see #1, above).
3. We get at least one year of having SEC prestige in recruiting without having to play the SEC gauntlet. This is a nice, short, benefit, making this year’s recruiting class and potentially next year’s especially important to capitalize on (and this football season is exponentially more important to set us up for the SEC). It is an unusual logistical recruiting advantage that we’ll have, and we will never have it again. Please Lort, no major injuries or obscene turnovers this year…
4. Our regular season winning average will go down (but not as much as some SEC fans think, as we know). Even though being an SEC team will give us an additional benefit for recruiting, our regular season record may reduce that benefit some, making the future a bit unknown. I’m ok with that. I’m tired of “relief” wins (wins we know should occur, but where there is still a bit of danger for a loss). 99 percent of our games are this way. I would prefer more unknown outcomes (where we genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen, and we even have a game or two during the regular season here and there where we secretly think we’ll lose). It did make me think about just how bad our regular season home schedules look after listening to a couple of the scoop podcasts. Tech, TCU, Iowa State, KSU, Baylor… Those are the norm. Having Tennessee, a mid-tier SEC team, play in Norman was going to be the highlight, last year… Even though I don’t consider OSU as much as a rival as the media seems to advertise, surely they’re a different level than the previous mentioned teams. Now, replace that with the newer SEC version of A&M, LSU, Auburn, Bama, etc…. Sure, there’s a Vanderbilt, but that’s par for the course in any conference.
5. We will now get to consistently play a rival that hasn’t ever been (for some weird reason), and that’s Arkansas. I would think Arkansas is a much more natural rival than most Big 12 teams, and we’re likely a bigger rival to Arkansas than most of the teams in the SEC, even though we haven’t played much (again, a very strange circumstance). The hogs have been down for several years, but I don’t expect that to be the case in perpetuity. Then again, I grew up on the border in the state of Arkansas, so my perspective may be a bit skewed.
6. If there’s a time to do this, it is now, from a pure football point of view. I base this primarily on the facts that LSU looks like it is struggling a bit and Saban is entering his 70’s. Add to that the fact that we’re just now hitting a stride we have been hoping for in recruiting, with what I believe will be the youngest coach in the league, and that’s a pretty good stew we have, brewing.
7. Stadium expansion, here we come? Better home scheduled games on a consistent basis means a bigger stadium may happen.
2. This helps Texas much more than Oklahoma. This is somewhat of a temporary observation, but I would think this gives an additional boost to Texas recruiting more than OU's (even though it'll benefit OU's recruiting). I theorize this primarily based on recent recruiting/on-the-field performance. The better you get, the less room there is to improve. Also, any pro-state-of-Texas high school athlete that would've normally chosen A&M instead of Texas because of the SEC is now Texas's (think Mac Brown’s closing the borders philosophy—this will help them in that regard). A better Texas means a bigger rivalry (see #1, above).
3. We get at least one year of having SEC prestige in recruiting without having to play the SEC gauntlet. This is a nice, short, benefit, making this year’s recruiting class and potentially next year’s especially important to capitalize on (and this football season is exponentially more important to set us up for the SEC). It is an unusual logistical recruiting advantage that we’ll have, and we will never have it again. Please Lort, no major injuries or obscene turnovers this year…
4. Our regular season winning average will go down (but not as much as some SEC fans think, as we know). Even though being an SEC team will give us an additional benefit for recruiting, our regular season record may reduce that benefit some, making the future a bit unknown. I’m ok with that. I’m tired of “relief” wins (wins we know should occur, but where there is still a bit of danger for a loss). 99 percent of our games are this way. I would prefer more unknown outcomes (where we genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen, and we even have a game or two during the regular season here and there where we secretly think we’ll lose). It did make me think about just how bad our regular season home schedules look after listening to a couple of the scoop podcasts. Tech, TCU, Iowa State, KSU, Baylor… Those are the norm. Having Tennessee, a mid-tier SEC team, play in Norman was going to be the highlight, last year… Even though I don’t consider OSU as much as a rival as the media seems to advertise, surely they’re a different level than the previous mentioned teams. Now, replace that with the newer SEC version of A&M, LSU, Auburn, Bama, etc…. Sure, there’s a Vanderbilt, but that’s par for the course in any conference.
5. We will now get to consistently play a rival that hasn’t ever been (for some weird reason), and that’s Arkansas. I would think Arkansas is a much more natural rival than most Big 12 teams, and we’re likely a bigger rival to Arkansas than most of the teams in the SEC, even though we haven’t played much (again, a very strange circumstance). The hogs have been down for several years, but I don’t expect that to be the case in perpetuity. Then again, I grew up on the border in the state of Arkansas, so my perspective may be a bit skewed.
6. If there’s a time to do this, it is now, from a pure football point of view. I base this primarily on the facts that LSU looks like it is struggling a bit and Saban is entering his 70’s. Add to that the fact that we’re just now hitting a stride we have been hoping for in recruiting, with what I believe will be the youngest coach in the league, and that’s a pretty good stew we have, brewing.
7. Stadium expansion, here we come? Better home scheduled games on a consistent basis means a bigger stadium may happen.
