Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Steve Sarkisian wasn’t pleased with Brett Yormark’s comments.
In what was a very bizarre statement, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark essentially expressed public support for Texas Tech to beat Texas this season in football. Continue reading “WATCH: Steve Sarkisian responds to Brett Yormark’s comments”
Before the ACC votes on adding #Stanford, #Cal, and #SMU, #Utah’s football coach wondered how permanent all of this will be.
A few days ago, Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham made some newsworthy remarks in a conversation with Utah-based radio host and podcaster Spence Checketts.
Whittingham was discussing the future of the BYU-Utah football rivalry, but what he said about that game also flowed into the larger discussion of college sports conference realignment.
It’s a much longer conversation, so you will want to listen to the full show to get the complete context. That said, this one paragraph is impossible to ignore. It reasonably caused a stir:
“Well, first of all, you use the word permanently, and I can say it’s far from that,” Whittingham said. “I think in two-to-three, maybe five years at the outside, everything is gonna change again. And so this may be just a quick couple years of the game (BYU-Utah) returning, and then everything is blown up again and people go their separate ways.”
Since BYU-Utah will be a conference game in the Big 12, people will obviously wonder what Whittingham thinks about the structure of conference realignment in several years. It is reasonable to think that a lot of changes (Florida State and Clemson to the SEC, for example) will occur. How far these changes spread is obviously something we’ll all wonder about.
Let’s gather some reactions to Whittingham’s comments and then make a few extra points at the very end:
With Colorado and others set to join next year, the Big 12’s future appears bright
The college sports world was turned on its head once again this offseason with the Colorado Buffaloes and other programs announcing their intentions to move conferences.
The big winner of this latest round of realignment is without a doubt the Big 12 as the conference added four teams from the ashes of the Pac-12 in Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona and Utah. The Big 12 has done a masterful job of weathering the loss of Texas and Oklahoma and has come out the other end with a new TV deal and a footprint that spans nearly coast-to-coast.
Colorado’s season opener against TCU on Saturday will mark the last time that the two teams will face each other as nonconference opponents, at least in the foreseeable future.
As kickoff approaches between the Buffs and Horned Frogs nears, I reached out to Anthony North of Frogs O’War and asked for his thoughts on where the Big 12 stands:
When Texas and Oklahoma announced their departure to the SEC, everyone began to write the Big 12 obituary. The league brought in Brett Yormark as Commissioner and a year later the Big 12 is sitting in a position of having power-raided the Pac 12. For TCU, it certainly feels good to be on the right side of conference realignment upheaval, after being left to wander the CFB wilderness when the Southwest Conference merged with the Big 8. I’m excited for the new Big 12, it will be a wide open entertaining product every season with big time rivalries renewed and new ones sure to form. The football and baseball will be competitive at a very high level and the basketball will be the nation’s best. Whatever future form of college football consolidation takes place and however the College Football Playoff will work in the future, the Big 12 will be a part of it, a statement that was far less certain a year ago.
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Oklahoma Sooners No. 3 in USA TODAY Sports 2023 Big 12 preview.
The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] have dominated the [autotag]Big 12 conference[/autotag] since its inception in 1996. They’ve won 14 conference titles, one less than every Big 12 school combined.
This is the final year for the Sooners in the Big 12 as they head off to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] in 2024. The Sooners would love nothing more than to get that 15th title and leave a sour taste in the mouths of fans and the Big 12 commissioner.
USA TODAY Sports put together their Big 12 college football preview. They have the Sooners coming in at No. 3 behind the Texas Longhorns and the defending champs, Kansas State Wildcats.
How bad was the first season for Sooners coach Brent Venables? Oklahoma had its first losing record since 1998 and its worst loss ever to rival Texas. However, there is reason for optimism. The last four losses were each by three points, and a host of transfers on defense – especially up front – should bring massive gains to Venables’ area of expertise. QB Dillon Gabriel will likely be better after an inconsistent junior season, and a run in the Big 12 seems possible. – Erick Smith, USA TODAY Sports
A third-place finish would be good for most teams, and frankly, after last season, it would be good for Oklahoma.
But this is Oklahoma. Oklahoma is used to winning championships. Brent Venables is used to winning championships. Yes, as a defensive coordinator, but he played a huge role in both Oklahoma’s and Clemson’s success over the last two decades.
Team 129 has a chance to prove last year was a fluke. They have a chance to leave their mark on the Big 12. That’s what has fans so excited.
All offseason, Oklahoma fans been beaten down by the “Nebraska Cornhuskers of the SEC narrative.”
They couldn’t respond because how could you after going 6-7? They had to take it, but now it’s time to see who is right on the field.
Hold on just a little bit longer, Sooner fans. We are eight days away from some football in Norman.
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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.
Is Texas overrated ahead of 2023?
Texas is believed to have the best roster in the Big 12 and one of the most talented rosters from top to bottom in all of college football. Continue reading “CBS Sports analysts views Texas as most overrated team in Big 12”
Joey McGuire is getting a little too comfortable talking about Texas and Oklahoma.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire is talking with plenty of bravado. For a coach who went 7-5 last season with his fair share of two-score losses, the math isn’t adding up.
McGuire’s latest remark questions whether or not Oklahoma and Texas are really blue bloods. He referred to the two teams in the following way to a Texas Tech dominant crowd.
“These so-called bluebloods — and I really question that. One of them’s really good in Olympic sports.”
That Texas team is 16-4 in its last 20 meetings against Texas Tech. It’s the same Texas that is in the top five nationally in all-time wins. It’s the very program that has four more national titles and 32 conference championships to Tech’s 11 conference titles. It’s the Texas that is 54-18 all-time against the west Texas program.
Not long ago, Texas Tech pulled on the heartstrings trying to keep the Longhorns in the same conference. Their reasoning: The Lubbock economy would take a hit. They may have to enjoy the final game of the rivalry taking place in Austin this season.
McGuire is putting a Texas-sized target on his back. The Longhorns will look to respond on Black Friday on Nov. 24.
Brett Yormark got the headline and the most attention for what he said today in Lubbock, but Joey McGuire also referred to UT and OU as "these so-called bluebloods — and I really question that. One of them's really good in Olympic sports."https://t.co/O36k6rUJNs
— Don Williams (@AJ_DonWilliams) August 24, 2023
Mapping out some realistic expectations for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023.
The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] are coming off their first under .500 season since 1998. Sure, there were signs that a down year might have been on the way, but this is Oklahoma, and that’s not the norm.
Oklahoma lost five games by seven or fewer points. They were one of the worst fourth-quarter teams in the country. They peaked early in the season and just looked exhausted the rest of the way.
But this offseason, they added players to help make sure they are a more talented and fresh team down the stretch.
Head Coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] is also taking a different approach to make sure they are efficient in keeping the guys healthy and rested.
So what can be expected in 2023?
I’m here to be honest with you. Expecting Oklahoma to go 12-0 or 11-1 just isn’t realistic. Nor is it realistic to expect 7-5 or 6-6. Can any of those scenarios happen? Absolutely, but it’s not realistic.
Let’s talk about why.
Making travel plans? Consult these distances (and some comparisons) between localities in the new conference maps.
Our friends at Ducks Wire are getting used to what life will be like in the Big Ten. It’s weird and it will require an adjustment, but this is the reality we are about to step into.
“Whether you love the news or hate the news, it appears the future has been set, and the Ducks will join the USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies in a conference with Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State.”
What a brave new world.
Fans in the Pac-12 footprint will have to make adjustments to the Big Ten and Big 12 if they are to plan road trips to see their favorite football team play. Fans will have to be selective in the trips they take, picking their spots and making sure that when schedules rotate, they get the games they either want or feel they can reasonably make (or both).
Let’s provide some distances and comparisons for the new Big Ten and the new Big 12:
We ranked the Big 12 football teams that we’re most looking forward to watching Colorado play
The Big 12 that Colorado will be rejoining in 2024 is a vastly different conference than the one Buffs fans remember from 13 years ago. Missouri and Texas A&M are now in the SEC, and Texas and Oklahoma are set to follow after this year. Meanwhile, Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and UCF are new members while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah will join the Big 12 along with the Buffs next summer.
This new Big 12 will take some time to get used to and it may take some time for new rivalries to develop. Still, the future appears bright for the 16-team conference.
Below is a ranking of the Big 12 football teams that we’re most looking forward to watching Colorado play:
Colorado will return to the Big 12 as one of the new-look conference’s winningest football programs
The Big 12 Conference looks much different than it did even two weeks ago when the Colorado Buffaloes stunned the world and left the Pac-12. All of Arizona State, Arizona and Utah have followed suit in recent days, and now the Big 12 looks loaded for the 2024 season and going forward.
The talent on the football field will be at a major level when the changes are implemented, and it’s worth examining the Big 12’s all-time winningest programs with a new era right around the corner.
Don’t get confused, there are 16 Big 12 schools (for now). Here are the winningest football programs (h/t Schuyler Callihan of Mountaineers Now):
