Is Oklahoma destined for B10 in 2025

[Soonerheart]

This video helps illustrate the desires of OU’s BOR and others of note who are wanting more of this for our state and OU. This new exciting research would be cutting edge and considered world class.

Its research like this that will elevate the national prestige of the university and help create many more well-paying private jobs, thus aiding in our desire to diversify our state’s economy and lower our dependence on the booms and bust of Hydro Carbons.

I found this on another site. This is something that OU would need help from other universities. The Big Ten is in the very best position to assist OU. Kelvin Droegemeier who appears on this video will soon be president Trumps National Science adviser, who could assist OU with federal funding.

This is OU professor Kelvin Droegemeier talking with KOCO 5 Meteorologist Michael Armstrong about NES and its testing facility.

link fixed
https://www.koco.com/article/national-environmental-simulation-and-testing-facility-at-ou/19824279




By joining the Big Ten this helps show how OU and Oklahoma can have its cake and eat it too for generations to come.

 

[CTOkie]

If it happens that OU enters the Big 10, it would also mean tapping into the NYC market when playing Rutgers in NJ. If I'm alive by then, I could attend very easily.
I guess that all "depends".

 

[Oklabama]

If it happens that OU enters the Big 10, it would also mean tapping into the NYC market when playing Rutgers in NJ. If I'm alive by then, I could attend very easily.
I guess that all "depends".

I know exactly what you mean, CT. It’s that way for a bunch of us baby BOOMERS. .

 

[CTOkie]

I know exactly what you mean, CT. It’s that way for a bunch of us baby BOOMERS. .

Yep....and you start to wonder if you will be around for your favorite teams' future championships, mine being OU and the Yankees.
Needless to say, 1956 and 2000 were great years for me.

 

[owenfieldreams]

I've felt all along that the Big 10 west in a 16 team league was our best route. The conference brings the best of all worlds. Whether we go with KU or UT or even Mizzou, it makes sense to me. You'd have a minimum of 3 division rivals better than any in the Big 12....Iowa, Wisc. and Nebr. Crossover games with Mich. MSU, Penn. St. and TOSU. If UT comes with us the Big 10 west becomes a tremendous division.

 

[CTOkie]

I've felt all along that the Big 10 west in a 16 team league was our best route. The conference brings the best of all worlds. Whether we go with KU or UT or even Mizzou, it makes sense to me. You'd have a minimum of 3 division rivals better than any in the Big 12....Iowa, Wisc. and Nebr. Crossover games with Mich. MSU, Penn. St. and TOSU. If UT comes with us the Big 10 west becomes a tremendous division.

The more I think of it, the more I like an OU membership in the Big10, and not just to resurrect the Nebraska rivalry. This would be especially good if OU could maintain playing Texas each year whether Texas joined OU in the Big 10 or not. I like the idea of playing Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern and Penn State often and tapping into the Chicago, Cleveland, NYC and Washington DC/Baltimore markets.
These teams excite me more than the current teams in the Big 12, Texas the exception.

 

[Oklabama]

I just want us to go somewhere unless the Big 12 can bring in at least 4 quality teams. Anything less than that will ultimately become a problem long term. 14 teams may not even be enough.

 

[sybarite43]

From 1920 to 1995, Oklahoma was in a different conference from Texas. During that time, we won six national titles and recruited so well in Texas that the SWC schools supposedly banded together to attack OU first in recruiting. It didn't work. We got a few decent players from Texas. A&M has recruited better since leaving the Big Twelve. It provides them with a more adventuristic window that Ames,, IA, Manhattan, KS, or Lubbock, TX. They get kids who will play in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, New Orleans, instead of Lawrence, KS.

I would prefer not to affiliate with the SEC. I would be happy with the Big Ten, Pac 12, or ACC. Somehow, I think Ohio State/OU or Michigan/OU or Penn State/OU matches would generate more interest than Kansas State/OU.

That's just football. The Big Twelve has fallen so far in wrestling that we have to have a phony conference set up to replace the departures of all of the wrestling teams of the Big Eight. Is Iowa State not the only school that has a gymnastics program? In women's sports, the Big Twelve is losing dramatically. Only seven of twelve play softball, and only one respectably. OU fits more with the Big Ten or Pac 12 in the type of sports that we offer.

 

[Sinomatic]

You guys would be fine recruiting Texas no matter the conference. No offense but you're practically North Texas only with better football than all of Texas.

None of us would squirm like a worm. If you guys came to the B1G....

I hope Scott Frost has us winning lots of games.

And what the he'll kind of Sooner black magic is it that has us with Riley in Lincoln with the worst record since the 50's and you guys have Lincoln Riley in the damn playoffs year one?!

GO BIG REDS!!!

 

[Sinomatic]

Ok some would squirm a little bit..

 

[Sinomatic]

Comparing the former Big 12 schools to OU is fully. NU was in a steep decline long before they left. They have no specific relationship to the state of Texas. CU has been playing catchup since the '90's. Their facilities are 2nd rate and culturally they are a better fit in the Pac-12. Mizzou panicked...should have never left. A&M was more motivated by their hatred towards UT than anything. OU has so many ties to Texas it could be playing in Europe and it would still recruit the state successfully. The Metroplex might as well be in OK. It's an OU media market. Something like 20% of the student body is from Texas. The largest OU Club outside the state is in Houston. And then there's dinasour wine...the tie that binds. SWA connects every city in Texas to OKC. Why wouldn't a recruit from Texas want to play on national tv vs the likes of Penn St., Mich., Wisc., etc.? If we can recruit nationally as we are now there's no way we lose or base recruiting area in Texas.

Ok one more and I'll go. I think Nebraska panicked, not Missouri. But.....it had some teeth...aTm was, going he'll or high water, to the SEC. Colorado the same for the Pac.

Missouri was flirting with the B1G before NU, this time around. (Nebraska tried getting into the Big Ten back in the 1900's twice and was rejected twice.)

Reports were coming out with OU and UT going to the Pac as well...

So added up:

Nebraska HAD to move if they wanted any semblance of tradition, or conference affiliation weight If all those dominoes fell. (Nebraska has played Big Ten teams lots of times from the beginning of the program, Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, Michigan)

My opinion: The B1G is a tough conference, a storied conference, but dang man...chimos galore, wife beaters, and player killers on top of cheaters. Thats not what the conference stands for outwardly but a lot of programs need a lasting come to Jesus moment for sure.

Would love to see OU on the schedule, would only make us feel more at home.

 

[Oklabama]

I have always thought OU would be a better fit for the SEC. I still like the idea of getting to play teams like Arkansas, Missouri, Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Auburn and Alabama on a regular basis. But the more I read the more I am thinking the Big Ten is most likely in our future.

Regardless, I’d rather play South Carolina, Kentucky, Vandy, and the Mississippi schools rather than Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Maryland and Rutgers. Not even close.

 

[Oklabama]

But going back to an ANNUAL OU-Nebraska would be great. So there’s the upside along with playing all the elite schools in the conference regularly. What’s best for OU is the bottle line, IMO.

 

[Sinomatic]

You've got a great geographical position to see a ton of games in person if OU goes to the SEC.

If it were my decision I would go to the SEC. All around better recruiting, you get to stay closer to home. You get to play some old Big 8 boys, and even if Texas goes PAC you could still play them OOC every year. Stable conference with a ton of money and interest.

The PAC is stable and has some good recruiting out of CA, but that time zone though! And lesser interest in CFB all around save maybe the state of Utah.

The B1G is stable, most cash payout, and has a great pedigree....as far as academics are concerned. Their schools are given millions upon millions outside of football revenue for their AAU activities, which should satiate the eggheads.

I was at OU and even took in a Sooner baseball game w my dad in January, absolutely beautiful campus. I visited the museum there twice.

 

[runningback43]

I believe that if the Sooners go to a new conference it has to be the SEC. The only games in the Big 10 that would excite me would be OU vs Michigan, OU vs. Ohio State, OU vs Penn State and OU vs Nubby. I'd rather play Baylor and TCU than Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin and the rest of that conference.

 

[Oklabama]

I believe that if the Sooners go to a new conference it has to be the SEC. The only games in the Big 10 that would excite me would be OU vs Michigan, OU vs. Ohio State, OU vs Penn State and OU vs Nubby. I'd rather play Baylor and TCU than Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin and the rest of that conference.

The money and prestige of the Big 10 will probably win out, but don’t think for a minute that there are those who are concerned about the level of competition the Sooners would face in the SEC compared to the Big 10.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

As with everything in this world... it'll be about the all mighty American dollar. Follow the money... and I believe OU will.

1. Revenues
2. Academics

In any other order you wish to rank them...
schedule, competition, recruiting will all be ranked below.

 

[Senior Sooner]

As with everything in this world... it'll be about the all mighty American dollar. Follow the money... and I believe OU will.

1. Revenues
2. Academics

In any other order you wish to rank them...
schedule, competition, recruiting will all be ranked below.

With a new Cap'n at the helm of OUr ship, I expect to see some priorities change, as well...

 

[sybarite43]

"We want a university that our football team can be proud of." George Lynn Cross.

I knew Dr. Cross. Occasionally, he would escape the president's house and spend an evening at his botany office/lab in the basement of Richards Hall, and he might talk to graduate students who were working late on their research or preparing labs for the next day's instruction. I know that he desired a university that we could be proud of.

In the process looking for a long-term conference, we tend to consider the impact on football as though it were the only subject of concern. The reality is that the university will probably exist after the removal of athletics from universities. They survived for a thousand year before football.

Indeed, money is also a concern, although I don't know that the concerns have processed a changing economy. Travel expenses are probably less of an issue than they were twenty years ago. Television contracts are a greater issue than any other source of money, including attendance.

But, we really should consider what the purpose of the university is. It has little to do with sports. It is to build an educated citizenry. When we first built a university in 1891, we were only two years after the run, and we didn't even have roads throughout the state. We certainly didn't have sports in mind. I doubt that a lot of people who made the run knew what football was. The only places that knew it were a few schools in New England.

I never could read Boren, and I never forgot that he was a politician. But, it did seem to me that he was trying to establish a little bit more of an academic direction for OU, including conference affiliations, which usually have little to do with academics. I had the impression that he would have much rather been in affiliation with Stanford, California, and UCLA as compared with the other long-term options.

I have always looked at the SEC as a conference that was only useful for sports. When you consider the members of the SEC, exactly what are they noted for other than sports? Vanderbilt is the only school noted for academics. Tulane was. But, they left. What is Mississippi best known for---James Meredith? Which school is known for more? It's pretty much football or nothing, except that they are pretty good in softball and women's gymnastics.

I look at the Big Ten, and it does contain cities with a lot more TVs. Does Chicago or Mississippi have more TVs? Rutgers has a NYC market and is a highly-respected school. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin are reasonably successful academic institutions. Northwestern is solid in academics and sports.

I had the impression that Boren knew that the Big Twelve had a limited shelf life, and he was looking to position OU with a set of universities that were known for something other than football.

With all of the emphasis on football and fund-raising, the schools that have the largest endowments are Harvard and Yale with $36 and $27 billion, respectively, Texas is third, Stanford fourth. Then, we get Princeton, MIT, Pennsylvania, Texas A&M, Michigan, and Northwestern. These all have $10 billion + endowments. Has to be something other than football.

https://thebestschools.org/features/richest-universities-endowments-generosity-research/

Just some food for thought:
1. the only SEC schools in the top fifty for endowments are A&M and Vanderbilt.
2. The most highly-endowed school other than Texas and Texas A&M in the Big Twelve states is----Grinnell.
3. OU is #61.
4. Compare the football conferences with the size of endowments. Ivy League probably wins hands down. The ACC is probably second. Big Ten and Pac 12 do OK.

 

[Oklabama]

Far out, man. Great post.

 

[sybarite43]

Let me give you something else. These are the top 61 universities in endowments (OU being #61) with conference affiliations.

Ivy

1. Harvard $36 billion
2. Yale $27.1 billion
5. Princeton $23.8 billion
7. Pennsylvania $12.2 billion
11. Columbia $9.99 billion
18. Cornell $6.757 billion
22. Dartmouth $4.95 billion
30. Brown $3.245 billion

Big Twelve

3. Texas $26.5 billion--UTexas System total
61. Oklahoma $1.646 billion

Pac 12

4. Stanford $24.7 billion
12. California $9.78 billion, California System total (notice Cal Berkeley at #56
21, USC $5.1 billion
36, Washington $2.529 billion
46. UCLA $2.06 billion
56. Cal Berkeley $1.794 billion

SEC

8. Texas A&M $11.55 billion--Texas A&M system (notice the disparity between Cal and Cal Berkeley.
24, Vanderbilt $4.13 billion

Big Ten

9. Michigan $10.9 billion
10. Northwestern $10.4 billion
13. Notre Dame $9.35 billion
23. Ohio State $4.25 billion
26. Penn State $3.99 billion
29. Minnesota $3.49 billion
32. Wisconsin $2.746 billion
33. Michigan State $2.68 billion
35. Illinois $2.556 billion
38. Purdue $2.424 billion
42. Indiana $2.229 billion

ACC

14. Duke $7.9 billion
19. Virginia $6,39 billion
27. Pittsburgh $3.945 billion
31. North Carolina $3.027 billion
40. Boston College $2.31 billion
48. Georgia Tech $1.985 billion

Other
6. MIT $14,96 billion
15. Washington (St.Louis) University $7.86 billion
16. Chicago $7.5 billion
17. Emory $6.9 billion
20. Rice $5.8 billion
25. NYU $3.99 billion
28. Johns Hopkins $3.844 billion
34. Cal Tech $2.6 billion
37. Williams $2.5 billion
39. Richmond $2.373 billion
41. Amherst $2.48 billion
42. Pomona $2.167 billion
44. Carnegia-Mellon $2.154 billion
45. Rochester $2.12 billion
47. Rockefeller $2.049 billion
49, Boston $1.957 billion
50. Swathmore $1.955 billion
51. Wellesley $1.93 billion
52. Grinnell $1.87 billion
53. Virginia Commonwealth $1.843 billion
54. Toronto $1.829 billion
55. Case Western Reserve $1.798 billion
57. Smith $1.767 billion
58. Tufts $1.738 billion
59. George Washington $1.729 billion
60. Georgetown $1.66 billion

Wellesley and Smith are women's colleges and don't have football (joke). Notice that the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, and California systems are listed. A number or colleges belong to each system. It doesn't mention A&M or Texas as being in the top 61 individually. It does mention Cal-Berkeley as #56 whereas the system is #12. No telling what UT and A&M are as individual institutions.

If A&M and Texas aren't in the top 61 as individual schools, it means that Oklahoma and Vanderbilt are the only two schools from the Big Twelve and SEC to be in the top 61. That would also mean that the largest endowment in the SEC states would be that of Emory.

Maybe we should try for the Ivy League if we want to be associated with money?

 

[Senior Sooner]

[QUOTE="sybarite43, post: 2271369, member: 29684"
Maybe we should try for the Ivy League if we want to be associated with money?[/QUOTE]

I know you are well aware that 'Bud & The Boys' brought us out of the 'Okie' Perception of our state, and that mentality remains to this day. Boren advanced the Spotlight on Scholastic Achievements, but the masses didn't buy into that, and we are still a State tied to the past, not the future. Can that be changed? Redirected? Possibly, but, IMO, not probably. We are still the self-indulgent population who likes our Saturday Tailgates and Beer, and our Dreams of NC #8, more than we like the Rhodes, Merit, and 10:00 O'clock Scholars...

A personal note...Dr.Cross, and his lovely wife, Cleo, were a LOT more fun than anyone might have imagined! They traveled with us on Road Trips, and both were Amazing Personalities, and were also very down-to-earth. They never wanted to be anyone but a couple of Loyal Sooner Supporters, and on Big Game Days, like the Orange Bowls, always deferred interviews, sending the focus back to 'The Team'. Classy Couple!

 

[sybarite43]

I don't see an immediate change. I do see a change in about fifteen years.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

When the current TV contract expires, the change debate will heat up.

 

[Soonerheart]

Given their history of looking out for no one but their own universities in Texas no OU person in their right mind should ever mortgage OU’s future on what UT might do once their Longhorn Network contract expires in 2031…

In 2031 its possible UT would insist on taking another Texas university to a new conference, leaving OU in a conference of Big 12 leftovers. At that point there may not be any desirable slots available for OU!

This is why OU cannot afford to pass up an opportunity to move to the Big Ten when the Big 12 Grant of Rights expires in 2025.

 

[runningback43]

I really believe that the Big XII will be done after the Grant of Rights expires.

 

[Oklefty44]

Just to clarify my post above I have never been an advocate for OU being anywhere other than the Big XII. From a geographical standpoint I don't see much difference between the Pac 12 and the B1G/SEC. Also, I don't think that OU will go anywhere without osu. Also, I don't think that OU will go anywhere without Texas. We have already lost the Nebraska rivalry and losing the Texas rivalry wouldn't be a good thing.


People like to talk about OU's tradition as if it is important. I think it is hugely important and the old Nebraska and Texas rivalries are a huge part of OU's tradition. Losing your biggest rivals isn't a really good thing.


I have always thought that the best thing that could happen if the Big XII dissolved would be for OU, osu, Texas and another Texas school find a home in another conference. I don't think that will happen in the B1G or SEC. That leaves the Pac 12.


The Pac 12 taking four Big 12 schools would give two divisions with eight teams. So, there would be seven division games and two more with the other division with the same ole three OOC games. The four Big 12 in a division with the two Arizona schools and Utah and Colorado wouldn't be a big deal. Divide them up and the CMT schools in the division would play one division team in the MTZ and another in the PTZ.


In that scheme there isn't a whole lot of difference between the travel with the Pac 12 as there would be in the B1G/SEC. Oklahoma is smack dab in the middle of the country. The distance from OKC to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts is very close to the same.


Now I know someone is going to go look up the mileage and make some big deal out of it. However, that will just be splitting hairs.


We have to take recruiting into all of this as well. I believe that OU and Texas are tied fairly closely to recruiting. Texas is a state that historically [at least from the mid40s] has been our bread and butter. I know there are lots of OU fans who hate Texas and don't ever want them to be good. I have never thought OU's ability to recruit ever depended upon some other team being good. How OU recruits is up to OU. Only losers have to rely on others being bad to make themselves look good. The best OU teams that won NCs were teams that beat pretty good Texas and Nebraska teams.


My point is that being in the Pac 12 with a good Texas would give OU a better shot at both Texas and California talent. I'm not sure it would hurt OU's recruiting in other parts of the country.


Lots of OU fans seem to think that OU going to the SEC would automatically provide lots more dollars. I think the best way for OU to make more money is for the OU/Texas rivalry mean more than it has over the last five or six years. A Big !2 being led by both OU and Texas give us pretty much equal footing with the other Power 5 conferences. We start winning playoff games and we become more attractive from a TV set standpoint.


Neither Arkansas nor A&M has really helped themselves by going to the SEC. And, what has the SEC done for Missouri except for more losing football games.


There are way to many unknowns about the value to OU by going to any other conference. What I do know is that OU's chances of getting into the playoffs gets much harder by going to the B1G/SEC. Anyone who thinks OU has a better chance at being the SEC West Championship is easy is just deluding themselves.

I do agree with about 99.9% of what you say. I do not think we have to tie ourselves to OSU or Texas as far as being in the same conference with either of them. It wouldn't bother me to see OU and OSU in separate conferences and play OOC games. As far as Texas, we need to keep the RRR in Dallas every year whether a conference game or a OOC one. Tradition as you say and keeping a foothold in Tx for recruiting is a must. Last, I don't think the BIG or SEC will be an easy task to win just our division #1, the the CCG will be tougher. I do think OU can get to the point they can compete and be a contender every yr and win their share and more than most teams in the conference can.

 

[owenfieldreams]

My fantasy wish is a completely blown up D-1 with a commissioner and 4 16 team conferences assembled geographically with no games allowed with lower division opponents and an 8 team playoff. I dont think this is likely but one can only hope.

 

[kcopsker]

Wouldn't it be weird for Nebraska if OU and Texas went to the BiG 10? I don't think they'd like that at all.

Well, you'd be wrong as most NU fans miss the days of playing OU. Ok, maybe not UT as their arrogance is unbearable.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

Well, you'd be wrong as most NU fans miss the days of playing OU. Ok, maybe not UT as their arrogance is unbearable.

Weirdness = UT & Husker

 

[Oklabama]

Weirdness = UT & Husker

I get the whole hate thing that Texas’ arrogance caused for some Nebraska fans, but I want to play the teams I dislike the most. Unfortunately there will never be one conference including Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, USC, Miami and Texas. So getting to play Texas and one of the others on a regular basis would be better than nothing.

 

[Oklefty44]

My fantasy wish is a completely blown up D-1 with a commissioner and 4 16 team conferences assembled geographically with no games allowed with lower division opponents and an 8 team playoff. I dont think this is likely but one can only hope.

I think thatwould be awesome!! Justlike the

 

[Oklefty44]

Basketball tournament. 64 and I'm in with no games against lower divisions. All games in your division of the conference plus a few cross division games rotating yearly would be cool. Maybe keep 1 rivalry that's a every year like Texas for us.