Conference realignment has always been a hot topic during the offseason. In fact, over the last few years, it seems to be the only thing people in the college football world are talking about getting through the long football drought.
As much as I enjoy entertaining wild and crazy ideas, there are some drawbacks to realignment. Sure, the Big 12 was able to add some great schools over the last two years between BYU, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado, but there is one thing that conference realignment kills.
That, of course, is the death of regional rivalries.
Nowadays, it’s common not to play your biggest rival every year. That rival may be less than 100 miles away, yet you may not even play them anymore because they are in a different conference. I mean, we have schools on the West Coast playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference, for crying out loud.
College football is entirely different from what it was ten years ago or even four years ago, for that matter. Historic rivalries are going away every year, and the transfer portal has shifted the sport for better or worse.
One of the biggest things we used to talk about during the offseason was spring football. I remember when spring practice was a big deal and spring games were essential. Now it’s rare for schools to even have a spring game anymore, and I don’t blame them considering the fact that 25% of your roster may end up leaving after spring anyway.
On Tuesday, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy shared a proposal that could kill two birds with one stone. He suggested the Cowboys could go to Norman on April 12th, which is the same day that Oklahoma has scheduled its “Crimson Combine” to replace the Sooners’ traditional spring game. The following weekend, Oklahoma could make the trip to Stillwater in place of Oklahoma State’s spring game.
Gundy added he would also be open to just one annual spring meeting with the Sooners, with the two programs splitting the ticket gate and putting the proceeds toward NIL.
“It’s not going to be a live game, but nobody really has live scrimmages anymore,” Gundy said. “So, you make it a full thud like we’re doing and practice against them, just like they do in the NFL.”
I would be a big fan of this, and I think many folks in the great state of Oklahoma would agree. It’s bad enough that we don’t get Bedlam anymore due to the fact that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are in different conferences, so why not give the fans a taste of it during the spring? What is there to lose here? That game would sell out no matter where it was played, and when you involve some NIL money, I am sure the players wouldn’t mind it either.
Watching Bedlam was like eating a big juicy ribeye steak. With every bite, I wanted more, and I didn’t know when to stop. And now that steak has been completely taken away from me. Now, Mike’s idea wouldn’t exactly be giving me the steak that I would want, but at least it’s a taste of something good. Either way, it’s better than being a vegetarian.
