First.....let's see a source. Second.....OU having to pick to go with Texas or go with Nebraska (if that's true) is not "backing out of the series". Like i said, if given the choice, of course OU is gonna choose the Texas game.......OU officials who turned their back to the OU-Texas game would have been tarred and feathered. I really find that whole scenario of OU having the choice highly doubtful though....if OU had chose the North....who goes to the South....Missouri? The current divisions are the only ones that make any sense. The fact is, when the Big 12 was formed, without instituting the "preferred opponent from the opposite division" format like the SEC does, OU was going to lose an every year rivalry: either Texas or Nebraska. The conference would have never formed if the lost rivalry was OU-Texas.

Not an OU fan, but the OU-Texas rivalry being played in Dallas every year is a huge recruiting advantage that OU would be crazy to give up.

that is last week's game, this week it is the Southwest Classic in Dallas, with the only quarterback in college football that can throw 5 interceptions a week and still be in the game....

I think people are dismissing Texas A&M too quickly as a contender in the Big 12 South....A&M was the more impressive team against OSU (IMO) and you're right...if JJ can limit the turnovers, they're dangerous. They actually seem to have a defense again too.

Loading the box only works if you can make the tackle. QB Martinez was too quick for KSU and bolted right by the defense most of the night. No one could catch him after he broke through and the WR blocking downfield led to long scoring runs. I thought it was an impressive win although I think KSU fans think they are better than they really are.

I can't see where it would be any school's option whether to be in the North or South. Isn't the dividing line the Kansas/Oklahoma border?? That would be like asking Baylor if they wanted to be in the North so they wouldn't have to play Texas, OU, A&M, Tech, etc. The travel doesn't justify that. Texas and OU play each year because they are both in the South division. Teams from the South and North have to alternate and not one team plays one from the other division each and every year. And I just ready yesterday where Nebraska and OU are talking about a series in the future for non-conference play since they won't have the opportunity to play as much. They both realize the rivalry is an important part of both teams history and want to keep that alive. I think Nebraska should be thankful they were in a different division than OU and Texas. Gave them a better opportunity to be in the Conference Championship game by being in the weaker division.

Before Texas entered the Big 12, the Nebraska vs. Oklahoma game was the big rivalry game. But times changes and so to rivalries.

tbh, though the big red rivalry was a big in the big 8 conferance and had some national title implications throughout the years, the OU/texas game has always been the bigger rivalry.

Actually there was a few polls about this. I tried to google them but they were pretty old (back to when the Big XII was forming). The vast majority of Oklahoma fans perceived Nebraska to be their rival. And it almost never had National Title implications.

The reason I say that is the game was normally played toward the begining of the year vs the Nebraska game was the last game of the year (Thanksgiving weekend). It may have had significance because usually going into that game both teams would have been undefeated given it was so early in the year. But if both Nebraska and Oklahoma were undefeated it definately had NC implications. In fact, from 1970 to 2005 Texas had not won a NC. And no I don't consider the 1970 NC to be Texas as they lost their bowl game and were awarded the NC before the bowl.

But NU vs OU had two games of the century and many times the other team would eliminate one team from the NC, or the winner would actually win the NC. So during the span I just named where Texas did not win a NC, Nebraska won 5. OU won 4. That is 9 vs only the 4 TU had.

OU wimped out of the rivalry. They were sick of being beaten 69-7 (1997).

Now lets go to the deviding between North and South. That is the way it ended up, however that was not the only option on the table. That was the solution ONCE Oklahoma backed off of Nebraska and chose to play the perceived, weaker Texas.



They did back out. They chose not to play Nebraska every year. That was their choice. I call that backing out. I don't know what you liberals call it.... perhaps surrender? If you want a souce look for the quotes from Tom Osborne himself during the time when Nebraska left for the Big 10. People said Nebraska was leaving and abandoning tradition. He pointed to what OU did in 1995 aligning itself with Texas. I think we can all read between the lines. If you want a link just youtube Tom Osborne's Big 10 speaches. I apologize but I do not have the time. Tom is one of the few who were actually in the room who spoke about what happened that day when Oklahoma backed down.


Then, upon formation of the Big XII, Oklahoma and Texas schools chose to team up against Nebraska by making league (not NCAA) recruiting rules designed to limit out of state contact. IE, Nebraska could only recruit in state during certain periods. The idea behind this was specifically to weaken the schools in the North. It worked. Thus, I suggest before just buying off on the politics of mergers and this is the way it is, I recommend looking up what actually happened, the rule making process etc. Nebraska is leaving becaus of money, and to be more competative. I am not one of the fans that think Nebraska is back, but they will be upon their move to the Big 10.

The identities of the programs have long been entwined. They first met in 1912 and have shared a conference — the Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Eight and finally Big 12 — since 1920.

Eighteen times, both carried top-10 rankings into their matchup. Twelve times, the winner went on to a national title. They're currently the nation's fourth- and seventh-winningest major-college programs.

I don't have the time or inclination to respond to that line by line (and you didn't have time to quote a source, but you DID have time to write a thesis on this issue?????)....What politics has to do with this i haven't a clue, but i've learned to expect the lowest common denominator from you......so from your diatribe i've learned: 1) a national championship isn't a national championship unless you've given the seal of approval....please hurry and write your revisionist history of college football....i'm anxiously awaiting to see who the "real" programs are 2) "the vast majority of Oklahoma fans perceived Nebraska to be their rival"...."rival" is not an exclusive term. Of course OU and Nebraska were rivals, as were OU and Texas. To those whose memory only goes back about 15 years, the OU-Texas rivalry didn't pop up with the arrival of the Big 12 and didn't intensify with it either....it was always that intense. 3) You enjoy fantasies if you actually believe OU at any time was "ducking" Nebraska.

in truth, nebraska is ducking OU and Texas now, over the last 15 years they have become less and less relevant in the college landscape so they took the bigger pay day and an what may become an easier conferance schedule and ran.

After fun police made their vast post I did a google search for top college rivalries of all time and OU/Texas is generally considered teh second best rivalry off all time behind OSU/Mich so though I will admit OU/Nebraska had a good run from the 70s and 80s OU/Texas has always been a more important rival for us Oklahoma citizens. Simple things like recruiting base and sharina a physical border enhance the rivalry. I am not sure the last time OU had a player from nebraska on their roster if ever. I have no doubt nebraska considered OU their chief rival but I don't think it was reciprocated.

That's exactly it: OU had 2 major rivalries--Texas and Nebraska. Nebraska had one; therefore, to some Nebraskans, OU-Nebraska must have been a bigger rivalry than OU-Texas (even though it wasn't). They were both huge rivalries and important in different ways, but as we've stated, if a poll was done of OU fans (and more importantly, if OU officials took the same poll), OU-Texas would, and pretty much always has, come out on top.

....on top except for the only real rivalry in the country, The University of Michigan and The Ohio State University....

everyone is forgetting the rivalry between Miami and local police

or Boise State vs. the World

or Les Miles vs. Conventional Wisdom

or rowdies vs. coldcuts

no kidding

Not really. The reason they left is in the politics of the Big XII. And Nebraska beat up Oklahoma last time they played them.
I offered the reasons you just want to believe a truth more convenient to you. As do I when it comes to OU ducking Nebraska.



Well you did fail to respond to the substance of my post. Besides the TO quote is on youtube, not much on the article because I cannot remember the exact quote.



You didn't even bother to look up the history of the NC I am referring to did you? Sad, you act like you have this history of college football thing down. I think if you looked it up you would likely come to the same conclusion.




OK I can agree with that but the poll I am referring to asked who the rival was between Nebraska and Texas and OU fans picked Nebraska.



So you act like my knowledge of college football started with the onset of the Big XII. Very Ad hominem of you. If that makes you feel better than so be it.




I do. Nebraska fans believe it too. Nebraska had blown out Oklahoma the last three times they played them prior to the change and won something like 9 of the last 10 before that. You picked your side. You chose to vote with Texas to restrict Nebraska recruiting efforts, and now Nebraska jumped ship to a confrence that will not make those same restrictions. Check out rivals for recruiting rankings starting in 1996. Nebraska plummeted off the map yet Texas and OU were right up there at the top. Yet Nebraska had just won 3 out of 4 NCs.


I seriously cannot believe someone who calls themselves a college football expert can make the claims you have. I am happy you live in your own perfect world where whatever you and your media wants to portray. OU ran.

How can you say OU ran and make that reasoning and then declare that win Nebraska does the exact same thing it isn't running?

It is true OU was 4-7 in the previous 11 years vs Nebraska prior to the Big 12 starting, but the worst lossws ever came the first two years of the big 12 73-21 and 69-7 to which seems to counter your point that those butt kickings are what motivated OU to leave. In fact when the vote was taken in 1994 the previous 10 games were split 5-5. Over that same time OU was 5-4-1 vs Texas so the argument we were running to the easier opponent seems flawed.

Oddly, that juggernaut Nebraska who OU so feared won the Big 12 north 3 or the first 4 years and has only won it 2 other times in the last 10. Maybe OU was propping up Nebraska all those years who knows maybe their annual rivalry with Penn St. will help bring them back.

Btw, I have always thought highly of the Nebraska program and I am sad to see them leave and go to the Big 10. I fully expect them to win their half of the conferance frequently over the next decade.

Look...if you want to say "in my OPINION, OU ducked Nebraska; OU-Nebraska was a better rivalry than OU-Texas, etc., etc."...go ahead....most will disagree with you, but you're entitled to your opinion. But you endlessly refer back to polls, articles, youtube bits, etc. that i highly doubt the existence, or at least the content of, so if you are gonna insist on referring to those as if they are the final thoughts on this issue......you're gonna have to produce them. And producing a poll in which OU fans state that Nebraska was a bigger rival than Texas is something i anxiously await cuz i don't believe it exists.

To ease the mind and soothe the soul, I produce this scientific poll...

This will be highly scientific.

sorry, you didn't specify the need for scientific, you just asked for a poll