Wuff, did I use your term correctly?
I haven't been back long, but in my short tenure, I've seen Oklahoma compared to Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Ole Miss. Apparently Oklahoma is so reliant on weak competition that a move to the SEC or Big 10 means a regression to 8-4 seasons, as we will be unable to compete with mighty Wisconsin or Michigan State.
The amount of stupid in posts like these, and the ones that claim we'll slide to mediocrity in the Big 10, is astounding. It leaves me stunted with the sheer enormity of possible footholds from which to mock this foolishness.
Let's start with this, total revenue for athletics (source USA Today):
3. Alabama - 153M
6. LSU - 134M
7. Oklahoma - 129M
9. Florida - 124M
38. Mississippi - 75M
Oklahoma is hamstrung financially in this inane conference, where it shares revenues with the second best schools in Oklahoma, Iowa, and Kansas, as well as two private schools, and whatever Tech is. It loses the revenue across all sports that leverage into television contracts, because member institutions can only drive ratings in a few local markets, which also limits sponsorship contracts. Despite this, Oklahoma already earns more than all but two SEC schools, and with more airtime in a commercially viable conference, Oklahoma is looking at income in Alabama's neighborhood.
What does money buy you? The best coaches, and the best facilities, both of which are routinely cited as keys to landing the best players.
Oh, but a move from the Big 12 would cripple Oklahoma's ability to recruit Texas, right? For starters, what's to cripple, exactly? Our recruiting in Texas has been awful for years. And why? Because the Oklahoma brand legitimizes the Big 12, which legitimizes TCU, Tech and Baylor, partially. And an even bigger factor? The SEC has been crushing us recruiting in Texas lately. So the SEC can recruit Texas just fine, but Oklahoma, playing in the SEC wouldn't be able to?
We would still have proximity on our side. We would still have a game against UT (there is zero chance this game goes away with everything it means to the city of Dallas in terms of revenue) that every kid in Texas wants to play in. We'd suddenly have an even bigger national profile with which to recruit nationally, and a better opportunity to recruit the southeast.
We probably wouldn't rattle off the conference championships with the same frequency, but people invoking "Arkansas" and "Ole Miss" are frankly some of the worst Sooner fans I could imagine, because they don't have the first clue what has made Oklahoma football special through the years. They don't understand that Oklahoma hasn't been succeeding because of bad competition (seems to be their argument). Oklahoma is a special football school because of its brand, its commitment, and also because Bud recruited a bunch of 25-year old WW2 vets to attack freshmen like they were on Omaha beach, and then decided to let Texas remain a leader in segregation.
My guess? Oklahoma in the SEC shifts Bama and Auburn to the East (where they can be with Tennessee and Georgia, respectively), with Missou moving to the West (with whoever comes in with us rounding it out), and we wind up with LSU as our chief rival for the division. And I'm not scared of them, unlike the aformentioned "pussboys."
I haven't been back long, but in my short tenure, I've seen Oklahoma compared to Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Ole Miss. Apparently Oklahoma is so reliant on weak competition that a move to the SEC or Big 10 means a regression to 8-4 seasons, as we will be unable to compete with mighty Wisconsin or Michigan State.
The amount of stupid in posts like these, and the ones that claim we'll slide to mediocrity in the Big 10, is astounding. It leaves me stunted with the sheer enormity of possible footholds from which to mock this foolishness.
Let's start with this, total revenue for athletics (source USA Today):
3. Alabama - 153M
6. LSU - 134M
7. Oklahoma - 129M
9. Florida - 124M
38. Mississippi - 75M
Oklahoma is hamstrung financially in this inane conference, where it shares revenues with the second best schools in Oklahoma, Iowa, and Kansas, as well as two private schools, and whatever Tech is. It loses the revenue across all sports that leverage into television contracts, because member institutions can only drive ratings in a few local markets, which also limits sponsorship contracts. Despite this, Oklahoma already earns more than all but two SEC schools, and with more airtime in a commercially viable conference, Oklahoma is looking at income in Alabama's neighborhood.
What does money buy you? The best coaches, and the best facilities, both of which are routinely cited as keys to landing the best players.
Oh, but a move from the Big 12 would cripple Oklahoma's ability to recruit Texas, right? For starters, what's to cripple, exactly? Our recruiting in Texas has been awful for years. And why? Because the Oklahoma brand legitimizes the Big 12, which legitimizes TCU, Tech and Baylor, partially. And an even bigger factor? The SEC has been crushing us recruiting in Texas lately. So the SEC can recruit Texas just fine, but Oklahoma, playing in the SEC wouldn't be able to?
We would still have proximity on our side. We would still have a game against UT (there is zero chance this game goes away with everything it means to the city of Dallas in terms of revenue) that every kid in Texas wants to play in. We'd suddenly have an even bigger national profile with which to recruit nationally, and a better opportunity to recruit the southeast.
We probably wouldn't rattle off the conference championships with the same frequency, but people invoking "Arkansas" and "Ole Miss" are frankly some of the worst Sooner fans I could imagine, because they don't have the first clue what has made Oklahoma football special through the years. They don't understand that Oklahoma hasn't been succeeding because of bad competition (seems to be their argument). Oklahoma is a special football school because of its brand, its commitment, and also because Bud recruited a bunch of 25-year old WW2 vets to attack freshmen like they were on Omaha beach, and then decided to let Texas remain a leader in segregation.
My guess? Oklahoma in the SEC shifts Bama and Auburn to the East (where they can be with Tennessee and Georgia, respectively), with Missou moving to the West (with whoever comes in with us rounding it out), and we wind up with LSU as our chief rival for the division. And I'm not scared of them, unlike the aformentioned "pussboys."
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