Oklahoma and Texas Looking to Join SEC? If it's True, What's Next for OSU?

STILLWATER – In a copyright story published on Wednesday afternoon on houstonchronicle.com, Texas A&M and college sports reporter Brent Zwerneman wrote that a source close to the situation in the SEC told him that both Oklahoma and Texas have made inquiries to the Southeastern Conference about joining that league. Back in 1994 it was those two schools, Oklahoma and Texas, that were the founders of putting together the Big 12 Conference. Zwerneman’s story received a no comment from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, who is with Zwerneman and most of the media that covers the SEC and it’s schools as well as a lot of national college football media in Hoover, Ala. at the SEC Football Media Days.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/texas-sports-nation/college/article/Texas-Oklahoma-reach-out-to-SEC-about-joining-16330080.php

Obviously, this is a huge story and could set college athletics on a course that would change the landscape of Division I college football, could speed the sport toward a more compact and elite grouping, and might even cause a change to the governance of major college athletics.

Remember that the Big 12 holds the first and second tier television rights to the conference members and the television contracts with ESPN and FOX extend through the 2025 seasons.

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Television agreements in the Big 12 would impact the timetable.

The most important aspect of this potential story to Oklahoma State University, its’ teams, and its’ fanbase is what would happen to its’ football program and athletic department as a whole.

First, lets look at the validity of the story. Zwerneman is a veteran reporter and one that is not prone to throw out a story without being certain of his source(s). He covers Texas A&M and a lot of his sources would be there, but this story made you feel that the source is more at the conference level.

Checking around and I tried multiple individuals at Oklahoma and there was no knowledge of the situation. Meanwhile, a source, a very reliable one at Texas told me that athletic director Chris Del Conte was caught somewhat off guard and that the Texas involvement was at the Board of Regents, President, and highest donor levels.

The changing landscape of college football and athletics could be at play here. Within this month we’ve had athletes begin to make money, in some cases big money, on Name-Image-and-Likeness. Just last week the President of the NCAA talked that the organization has become more and more ineffective and that it’s usefulness may be dwindling.

The new proposal for an expanded College Football Playoff to 12 teams and more games makes way for the likely scenario of multiple teams coming out of the most elite and competitive conferences. That could be sparking schools to look for those most elite conference situations. The new proposal also guarantees a place for the top six conference champions. On the surface, that would look easier to accomplish in the Big 12 than possibly being in the top two or even top three in the SEC.

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Oklahoma State success would guarantee they would have a solid landing spot in college realignment.

As for Oklahoma State, the Cowboys have a resume’ right now that is going to keep them pertinent and in a good situation. Oklahoma State has 52 NCAA team championships and is fourth behind all Pac-12 schools in Stanford, UCLA, and USC. This school year, Oklahoma State had every one of it’s athletic teams make postseason and OSU finished 18th and second in the Big 12 behind the Texas in the 2021 Learfield-IMG Director’s Cup a all-sports standings of how schools performed during the school year. Oklahoma was 24th in the standings. Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, and LSU all finished ahead of Oklahoma State, but that means eight SEC schools were behind OSU in the standings.

The most important sport is football and Oklahoma State fans can thank Boone Pickens and others for their contributions to get Oklahoma State football facilities where they all and then Mike Gundy, his staff, and all the Oklahoma State players during the Gundy tenure as the Cowboys have had 15 straight winning seasons with 15 straight bowl games, four of those New Year’s Six games. Oklahoma State overall is 11th in winning percentage in the last decade in college football. During the Gundy tenure his teams have a winning record against Top 25 teams and have wins over Georgia, Texas A&M, Missouri, Mississippi State, and Alabama in the SEC. The wins over Missouri and Texas A&M came when they were members of the Big 12 and before they departed for the SEC.

The most likely scenarios if this situation were to advance with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.

1.       The SEC expands to 24 teams with two 12-team divisions. This would be possible, and Oklahoma State would be one of those teams.

2.       Oklahoma State takes their resume’ and joins the ACC, which would be looking to expand.

3.       Oklahoma State takes their resume; and joins the Pac-12, which likes to call itself the “Conference of Champions” and the 52 at OSU would only add to that.

4.       Take the remaining members of the Big 12 and try to add prominent schools such as Boise State, BYU, or any schools that could be convinced to bolt their league and create a new Power Five league. This would be very difficult.