To this day I still do not understand why Texas and Oklahoma are leaving. Those teams politically ran the Big 12 (and OU also dominated football competitively until Riley left) and the other schools bent over backwards to try to keep them happy. The SEC will never give them the level of power they had in the Big 12. Not to mention the MUCH easier path to the playoffs that doesn’t involve Bama, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee every year. The rest of the conference is overrated but I don’t see the SEC even getting 4 teams in an 8 team playoff every year so somebody is not going to be happy. With the trends of OU and Texa$ in football, both are not looking like they will fair well against the top of the SEC. Yes they are getting a whole new level of pay but I don’t think it’s going to set well in 5 years when they have no playoff appearances and are getting the same money as Vanderbilt and Mizzou.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Texas is leaving because they were the common denominator of dysfunction in the league and why every legacy Big 12 team left (Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Texas A&M). **** them for nearly kicking Iowa State (likely also Kansas, K-State, Baylor, Texas Tech, etc.) to a Mac level league in 2010 and again in 2011 (no offense to the Mac). OU, I really feel like they are just doing it because Texas wanted to leave and basically told OU they are the partner. I will be a little bummed to have OU gone but if your administration can’t stand up against Texa$ and are willing to abandon 100 years of tradition and burn the Bedlam rivalry just to be the new SEC whipping boy, it’s best they be gone too. Good riddance Texa$ and OU. The Big 12 will finally have the stability it has desperately needed since 1996.