Yea i for got the north south stuff. Well why didnt the pick each other up in non con. Tv ratings would have been big.
Its a big game for ticket sales and state commerce, no doubt. But, I am leaning in the opposite direction. I think not having the bedlam game will force OSU to adjust its strategy on filling the stands. We sold out the game against an FCS opponent last weekend for example. Also, whether weâve been competitive or not, the removal of bedlam should change the annual expectations of the OSU fan. For good or for bad, many fans have had the attitude that winning bedlam in football was âgood enough.â Now hopefully that block of fans can take a look at the bigger picture and expect to win the conference and be in the mix for the playoff.
The new Big 12 should be nothing but a positive for OSU in football. As much as I love to hate the Sooners, I donât think Iâll miss the football game.
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@TayJ You are one of the good ones. Thank you in advance for actually having a solid take and discussion.
Selling out last week was a massive, massive positive sign for the program. Absolute bigtime.
"The new Big 12 should be nothing but a positive for OSU in football" Do you worry at all about the perception nationally? Do you worry that the ceiling for OSU as a football program just got much lower by what the new look Conf will be?
âThats the only reason there will be no more Bedlamâ . Thats not true at all. If that was the caseâŚthen why didnt Bedlam go away in the other sports too?
First, we donât know if Bedlam will continue in other sports but if it does its because scheduling is easier AND one loss does not knock a team out of contention for a playoff spot (or whatever post season each sport has) like it does in Football. There is no way that OU wants to lineup against OSU as on OOC game then have to play an SEC schedule. Also, I hear that the SEC is moving to 9 conference games and you can bet your paycheck OU does not want to play 10 or 11 P5 teams.
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Hang onâŚyou said Bedlam went away solely because of money. Thats not true. I completely agree with what you now stated as the reason/difference between Bedlam in football and the other sports. But thats not what you originally said.
And yesâŚmark it downâŚBedlam will continue in other sports. The non-revenue sports MUST have it in Stillwater. OSU is upset and I get it. But theyre not cutting out Bedlam draws across the board.
You touched on an interesting point as far as OU âwantingâ Bedlam. Do I think deep down the OU brass WANTS to do whatever they can to make Bedlam happen? Of course not. OU doesnt need Bedlam. I think deep down Joe C would give a good faith effort to play that game for a few years. Long-termâŚI think the OU people couldnt care less
I think youre exactly right on the the SEC going to 9 or 10 games. I think when that happens you will see more of these Non-Con rivalries go away such as UGA-Ga Tech, ND-USC, Clemson-Couth Car
As an OU fan, the rivalry I will be livid to lose would be Texas. Thats always been and always will be the biggest rival for OU. Thats no disrespect to OSU in any way. OSU is in its heyday as a program and can beat OU in any year.
âCastiglioneâ and âgood faithâ donât go together.
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Nebraska wasnât tired of zerOU, it was all due to Texa$$ and the Shorthorn Network.
Just out of curiousityâŚwhat does the term/phrase âZeroUâ even mean? Why is that a derogatory term to OU? Honest question
Uo is texas butch. Everything texas want uo did.
Nebraska was just crying.
You got to kidding. Your a genius about everything but zero u.
Everybody dnt tell him leave him hanging on horns down
They had a longstanding partnership with OSU and they broke it. If they wanted to keep that partnership in tact, that was as easy as literally doing nothing. They capitulated to the SEC and to Texas and did so at OSUâs expense. Ten years ago, OU and their fanbase was trying to be the SECbuster, now theyâre signing up. If you canât beat 'emâŚ
The non-revenue sports are much easier to reschedule because theyâre non-revenue sports. I donât think they should play those, either, but thatâs a much easier change.
Does OSU need this game? If we start winning the conference, we donât. Does it lower our ceiling? No. Theyâre expanding the playoff, so the landacape is changing entirely. We can make the playoff as a 1 or 2 finisher in the Big XII and itâll be that much easier without OU.
Let me ask you this, though. Youâre under the impression that OU leaving hurts us, and I agree that it makes things less stable for us, though I can we can still find our footing. Why on Earth would anyone, in any business, continue to partner with someone who sold you out and hurt your business? No one is doing that. Maybe you put up with itâwhile you make contongencies to get away from themâif they have you over a barrel, but OSU is telling OU that they do not prop us up and they do not have us over a barrel. I think itâs a big league, brave move.
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Iâm not under the impression OU leaving hurts OSU. I am certain of the fact that OU/TX leaving the Big 12 hurts the Big 12. That is inarguable. How much it hurts OSU specifically will remain to be seen. It may be quite a bit. It may be very little. Iâve never suggested it was a deathnail to the Cowboys.
OU isnât joining the SEC because they canât beat em. If that was the case the entire college football world would be joining the SEC. Youâre smart enough to know why theyâre joining the SEC. So letâs not turn this into some type of discussion that a few of these other fools have.
I donât look at it as a bold move. I look at it as though itâs a sign of where the OSU program is. If this was 1980, both schools would jump at keeping Bedlam. But itâs not. This is ab era in which OU hesitates to schedule OSU because of how good the program is. OSU doesnât rattle in fright due to losing Bedlam. Like Iâve saidâŚâŚthere is zero slight on my end of what the OSU program is.
What is deathnail? Maybe you meant âdeath knell.â
More good news for you and Sooner Nation: academics donât matter in the SEC.
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You got me. Iâm currently using my phone instead of at my desktop. Guilty as charged.
Iâm sure most of the college world would join the SEC if they could. Yeah, itâs about money. I just think itâs funny how the rhetoric changed. It was all âour conference is just as good, we can beat the SEC and shut them up,â then relative silence for a few years, now joining up. I get, to a degree, saying what you have to say to make the best of your situation, but I feel thatâs just duplicitous at some point. Thatâs sports, all business, and life in general, I guess. Bigger than OU. Just fed up with the, âwell, you have to say the right thing even if you in no way believe itâ mentality. Itâs one thing I like about Gundy. I believe he believes everything he says. He may omit things do as not to trash players too harshly in public, but I donât think he lies.
Hurting the conference hurts OSU. It hurts TV money. It hurts national perspective, but expanding the playoff offsets that a bit even though I agree with Gundy that a 12 team playoff is absurd. It benefits us, but itâs wrong. I just donât know why you would trust anything OU would do from here on out if youâre OSUâs administration. If you say what you donât mean and if theyâll put you in a bind for money, why would you rework your schedule for them? Why would we be able to rely on an informal partnership when we couldnât rely on a formalized one?
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Rhetoric is PR or political. The company line never changes, regardless of the entity youâre referring to. You referenced many months ago somehow OUâs pressers and statements in the aftermath of Riley leaving as a sign of doom & gloom in Norman. Itâs PR. Nothing more. Nothing less. You copy & paste the playbook at every weekly presser. Every postgame. Every halftime interview. Every recruiting signing day statement. Gundy is far less robotic than most. I completely will give you that. But he lies too. They all do. His remarks in regards to the job openings at other programs heâs flirted with is not a sig of complete honesty. That is not knocking him eitherâŚâŚitâs how these things have to be done. Itâs the profession. Itâs the era in which weâre living.
You and I have disagreed on here before but I think youâre a smart poster. Having said thatâŚâŚwhat in the hell would you have done if you were running the Uni of Oklahoma and had the opportunity to jump in up the money that the SEC will bring!!! You hehe continually said or come after the OU brass for doingâŚâŚEXACTLY WHAT ANY OTHER UNIVERSITY WOULDVE DONE. AgainâŚâŚno one from Norman cares if Bedlam is played. Thatâs not what the fan base would want. Itâs not what the program needs. It literally adds nothing in OUâs eyes.
I think Gundy was sincere in looking at other jobs. I think he was unhappy with Holder and was really exploring other jobs. Unless you mean something else. The cynic would say he made flirtations to get what he wanted. I think he stopped flirtations because concessions were made, but itâs not why he started them.
I agree that they donât care about Bedlam. Itâs what is going to kill college football in 20 years. Everyone is too focused on monetizing their product instead of worrying about what makes their product monetizable. The kids wonât be watching in a generation because the heart wonât be there and itâll be the Great Value version of the NFL.
The wisdom has always been that OU would never make any move without OSU and that it was a package deal. I think that changed because OU has gotten a little desperate. Gundy threw that jab about âclearing up debtâ. Itâs common knowledge that OU overextended themselves. They have to make the move because they got too ambitious and unwise with their money. They deserve to be needled for giving away their leverage. They needed the SEC more than the SEC needed them and everyone knew it.
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@jake4 Nebraska, A&M, USC, Missouri, Colorado, Texas & OU among others have all moved. None of those schools did it out of desperation. They did it because itâs where the landscape is headed. There is more to come. OU is obviously a program and university in which you loatheâŚâŚ.but they do manage to make a few decisions that are the correct ones.
We have stated our opposing stances on where college football will be. You think itâs headed downward. I think itâs going nowhere but up as a product. It will likely lose some lesser programsâŚâŚ.but the popularity of college football is here to stay.
âThey needed the SEC more than the SEC needed themâŚâŚâ Thatâs an obvious statement that everyone knows. That same statement is applicable to every program within the SEC. Even Alabama. The SEC is itâs depth and quality of programs as a whole. Itâs the richest Conf due to the success of it. People think Bama is the only big boy over there. Theyâre the biggest currently.
Very good discussion. Even though your hatred for OU limits your ability to be impartial, I appreciate the discussion. Also, appreciate that it doesnât get into the sewer like some of these can.