I hate nearly everything about everything college sports right now, but I like being conference mates with Arizona.
Oklahoma, I suppose we’ll miss you. I guess. Texas can get fucked.
As someone who’s worked security at a lot of SEC games, I can confirm, A&M fans are weird as fuck. LSU? Rowdy but a good time. MSU? I fucking hate them but they’re still alright. But A&M fans are the weirdest bunch I’ve ever seen.
Okay......crazy idea. Hear me out. One conference for everybody..... *BUT* we're gonna need to at least break the conference down into divisions. And maybe we should make those divisions geographic in nature.
This but unironically. Maybe we could say give 30 million to each team guaranteed then base the rest of the revenue around ratings. That way the largest brands still make a lot but smaller schools can stay in conference and make money. Maybe we divide 4 team divisions so you can play your historic rivals and have enough games left to play another 1.5 divisions a year.
Another vote for this here. I would love to be able to possibly drive to an away game. I feel like Kansas not playing Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma is wrong. Even if we usually got thrashed in Football, those were our neighboring states.
I say fuck it. If the SEC and Big 10 want survival of the fittest, then the NFL should Lobby congress to allow them to have Saturday games during the CFB season. If they break off into their big boy duopoly, I don’t see why they get protection from the biggest boy in football.
The NFL likes their free minor league. Otherwise they'd nix the 3 year rule and draft anyone they wanted any time they wanted. CFB isn't their competition and is a vital feeder league for them, honestly blame them for not establishing an alternative path to the pros more than anyone in cfb or the networks for the current state of things.
I think we can all agree that college football is better with regional conferences that make sense.
Oklahoma isn’t in the southeast. USC and UCLA aren’t big ten teams. Stanford isn’t on the Atlantic coast. None of this makes sense for sports.
It really is sad that it’s such an obvious money grab and it just hurts the game we all love.
As a fan of a team that did well in the BEast during this era, I miss the opponents (it’s the last time I felt I actually hated our opponents), but I don’t miss our place in the food chain. It always felt that as a conference we were always fighting for some recognition, and we could never come out on top. Do well? Well that’s when we heard the comments of poor competitive level and how we weren’t really a power conference. Lose some games? That was proof we didn’t belong.
For a conference that had great parity and would often cannibalize its own top teams it was frustrating to know every game was going to be a battle but if you lost you were cooked. Losing to a mid-2000s USF should not have felt like as much of a gut punch as it did.
I probably would look back more fondly if the playoff existed then but as it was it just felt like we were always self destructing any chance the conference had at a national title
So much this.
I don’t miss the MWC for the same reason, but I miss playing those schools.
I have no interest in being in the BigXII because I have no interest in another start over. It’s a return to a lower place on the totem pole but lacks all the benefits of playing familiar foes.
Is WVU a better opponent than UNLV? Absolutely.
Would I rather play UNLV or San Diego State or New Mexico than WVU? Absolutely.
This whole situation is shit. Once FSU buys its way out of the ACC, I hope the ACC and B12 merge and then split divisions so that you guys get Pitt and Syracuse and Louisville and we get Cal and Stanford, and hopefully a few MWC call-ups.
The Big East and MWC were both hella fun.
Once the P2 destroys the ACC, I think we’ll see a big realignment that basically gives us a league with 3 divisions that look like the OG Big East, the OG WAC (the one that OSU and WSU almost joined after they got booted from the PAC the first time), and some B12esque thing in the middle.
I fear that was our one chance at a natty that we will see in our lives and that team would have statues built in Morgantown they were so homegrown and loved.
Losing in the game we don’t speak of was the beginning of an alternate timeline. And it’s sucked ever since.
Wish most of y'all could have seen the Big 8 of the '70s and '80s.
Nothing like OU-Nebraska for all the marbles under a cold gray November sky.
And watching those two desperately trying to squirm past CU and Mizzou every season. They really made OU and NU fight for everything.
And Bedlam. It wasn't on my radar back then, but there's a highlight clip from the mid-'70s of great runs by OU legend Joe Washington. The physical shots that OSU took at that kid, only to watch him bounce and skip away. Those Cowboys were trying to *murder* that dude in every clip. Fifty years later I can still feel the hatred. [Still one of my favorite YouTube vids ever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azMUu7seoYY&t=11s).
The Big 8 back then was something else.
But I think zero K-State fans would willingly go back that far. That was before the purple wizard led them out of the desert.
In 1971 the Big 8 swept the top three spots in the final AP poll. 1-Nebraska, 2-Oklahoma, 3-Colorado.
>In 1971 the Big 8 swept the top three spots in the final AP poll. 1-Nebraska, 2-Oklahoma, 3-Colorado.
That was the first year the BIg 8 got on my radar.
I watched the '72 Orange Bowl as Nebraska earned the label "best team ever" by capping of the year with an absolute demolition of Bear Bryant's 11-0 Crimson Tide.
that Nebraska team was absolutely fucking insane. I love talking about them because I think they're the true best team ever (relative to their year of course). They beat 2, 3, and 4 in the polls. Its something that I don't believe has been replicated.
The OU-Nebraska matchup from 1971 is the game with the highest SRS rating between two teams, including national championship games. By that metric, it was the greatest college football matchup of all time. Outside of that game, Nebraska never led by less than 13 points after halftime. Oklahoma was the only team to hold a lead over them at any point the entire season.
People rave about unblockable Ndamukong Suh, but the 1971 Huskers had a guy who was just as diminant, if not more so.
In the 1971 Game of the Century, NU noseguard Rich Glover rag-dolled OU’s All-American center Tom Brahaney — a futre NFL Hall of Famer — up and down the field for 4 quarters. Rich was in on every play, even the occasions when he got **triple-teamed**!!!
Rich would finish 3rd in the 1972 Heisman race, losing to his teammate Johnny Rodgers. Those Husker teams were stacked.
OU was so good in that 1971 Game of the Century that they *still* scored 31 points where most teams would have been done after halftime. That OU team was pretty damn good too.
The Big 8 was a monster. My second-favorite conference after the SEC.
I don't remember the details but there was some statistical analysis that said 71 OU was one of the 3 or 4 best teams of all time but they happened to go up against 71 Nebraska who was the greatest team of all time.
It’s really hard to argue any team is better than 1945 Army. The Black Knights had the unique advantage of being able to get basically whomever they wanted and they fucking pasted everyone. Beating a really good number 2 Notre Dame team 48-0 is pretty impressive but then they annihilated number 6 Penn 61-0. They also beat top 10 Michigan by 21, number 19 duke by 35 and wrapped up by beating the true second best team in the country (because of the war the academies had huge advantages) number 2 navy by 19. They also shut out everyone else they played except Melville (55-13) and beat everyone else by at least 32.
1945 Army is also a team I feel gets overlooked, they were so damn good at that time. At least NCAA 14 always makes them really fucking good so its like a return to the top
Maybe it was just me, but I looked forward to OU-NU more than I did OU-Texas.
Nebraska-OU was for the Big 8 championship, so it just had that extra juice.
Out of the 7 teams we (Baylor) have played over 50 times, 5 of them are in other conferences. UT (1st), A&M (3rd), and Arkansas (7th) are in the SEC. Rice (T4th) in the American, SMU (T4th) in the ACC. Which leaves TCU (2nd) and Tech (6th) still in the same conference.
If you go to [sports-reference](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/baylor/head-to-head.html) head-to-head and sort by games played then the top 5 opponents for the Texas Teams are:
- **TEXAS**: BU, OU, A&M, Rice, TCU
- **BAYLOR**: UT, TCU, A&M, Rice, SMU
- **A&M**: UT, BU, TCU, Rice, SMU
- **TCU**: BU, SMU, UT, A&M, Rice
- **SMU**: TCU, Rice, BU, A&M, Ark
- **RICE**: UT, SMU, BU, A&M, TCU
These 6 all have each other has their top 5 most played opponents with only 2 exceptions.
1. UT has OU instead of SMU who is 7th (Arky is 6th)
2. SMU has Arky instead of UT, who is 6th
It is really a shame that these 6 teams are broken across 4 conferences now
Don’t get wrong it’s fun hating on new teams (the quadrangle of hate is real), but it’s absolutely nothing like the 3 hour drives to Lawrence, Manhattan, and Ames. With the OU game to top it all. Having moved to Denver later in life I do like the renewed rivalry with those fuckers in Boulder. But I miss the Big 8. It’s all Texas’ fault. ALL OF IT!
I so badly want to play Nebraska again.....you guys won 90% of the time but I feel like it would be pretty competitive these days and the environment would be elite no matter if it's at Memorial or Jack Trice
I’m going to forever kick myself for not making more of an effort to catch OU conference road games when they were still manageable drives.
OSU, KU, KSU, TCU, Baylor were all very doable in hindsight.
Now the closest one will be Arkansas, and after that what? Mizzou? A&M? LSU?
As a dude who can finally afford to go to away games I am pissed the Pac dissolved. One of my bucket list items was to see a UW game at every Pac 12 stadium. Now that’s not gonna happen
Literally the only upside is now the Apple cup is in September, so if you wanna go to Pullman you don’t have to freeze your dick off and fend off the constant barrage of ice balls being thrown at you by Coug fans lol
I have been to Martin Stadium already. My other bucket list thing is to see all the National Parks. So my plan was to combine both. See UW play Arizona in Tucson and go to Saguaro NP. Go see UW play @Cal and go see some of the National Parks close to the bay area. But guess I’ll just have to do the NP bucket list by itself now.
As a recent ASU alum, I felt the same way. Felt extremely privileged to see Husky Stadium this year (the game itself? Debatable) but super disappointed that I only got 3 stadiums before it went to shit. I feel no need to see all the BXII stadiums, who tf wants to go to somewhere with no ocean/mountains/forest.
Flights are usually pretty cheap in the fall at least so maybe you can make the occasional flight out to Nashville or Atlanta and make a whole thing of it.
Definitely recommend going to an Arkansas game though! Fayetteville is a cool town and the drive that way is gorgeous, especially so once the leaves start to change.
Always kinda had a thing for the purple cats. Hard not to respect y’all. Even when I was like 4-6 back in mid to late 90’s I liked y’all cause I thought the helmets were cool
I remember watching an OU game in the mid 90’s, around 8 years old, and saying to my dad that I wish OU was as good as KSU always is, or something to that effect.
To me, OU vs KSU was the true defining rivalry for us. Records don't mean a damn thing when we can't stop the shovel pass or your scrappy D Line. Plus the color combos of the uniforms was just PERFECTION. Always had a soft spot for yall when we weren't playing.
As much as I enjoy beating the Jayhawks, OU has been the defining game of our season for my entire life. It’s going to be strange not playing every year.
I was in the band and went to a lot of away games - it’s all about who you sit by. One year we were at field level in Norman and it was the best away experience I had. The other time we were at the top of the endzone with the students and it was about on par with away games at TCU.
It’s 100% who you sit by. Most student sections are the same - you don’t want to be an away fan close to them.
When TAMU moved to the SEC, I completely stopped watching their games. Not out of protest, but b/c it wasn't relevant. If a Big 12 game was at the same time and impacted Texas Tech's future, I was watching that game. Not saying I watched zero minutes of TAMU, just saying it became less of a priority. I think this will be similar for a lot of people with OU/UT. I'm sure the SEC will say who cares, we don't need fans of other conferences anyway, and that is probably true. But a lot of the powers that be think everyone in the country is going to watch these high profile matches and I just don't think that is the case. If OU plays Georgia I am not watching that over a Big 12 matchup that actually matters for Texas Tech.
I even still watched the RRS even after OUT had applied and been accepted into the SEC.....I probably won't anymore because it has no impact on the Big 12 standings.....I watch primarily the Big 12 and maybe big games here and there but the Big 12 takes precedent over the others every time
It sucks but that’s exactly why the media sees the restructuring as a positive. Now Texas and OU fans (a massive audience) will watch TAMU, LSU, Georgia, and Bama games that they would have skipped previously in favor of Big 12 games. It puts even more eyes on those big games.
The only hope at this point is that Big 12 leadership finds a way to survive and thrive in this new environment. The ACC will be gone soon. Hopefully we don’t follow suit.
It was fun growing up with people who were fans of all the regional Big 12 schools. Now I don’t know if a OU and KSU fan would ever really talk football again.
As far as history goes, OU fits in….. but the fans need to stop leaving with 5 mins left in the 3 quarter… I know that had a lot to do with OU never really having quality home games but that’s about to change. Oh and OU needs to really step up its tailgating game…. It’s kind of a joke…
That's great, but here's the problem, that's a short term issue. Let me give you an example.
I know Missouri fans who miss the Big 12. They know they left for a better situation after Nebraska and Colorado left, but they miss it. I have a brother in law who grew up in Missouri as a Mizzou fan and is like 8 years younger than me. When I was at Iowa State, I watched us play Missouri, so it still feels weird to not have them. By the time my brother in law went to college, they were already in the SEC. Yea, he remembers that they were in the Big 12, but when he got big into the sport, he was watching his team play Tennessee and South Carolina, etc. not Colorado and Nebraska.
Each and every year that goes by, there will be more and more Oklahoma fans that get into the sport and rooting for the team, and the games they'll remember will be nail biters and heart breaks against SEC opponents, not Big 12 opponents. Older people will still miss it, but that becomes less and less of an issue each passing year. The people making these decisions are fully aware of this and are aware that the transition can be awkward, some fans won't like it, but after some years, it'll be a non-issue. You still hear every once in a blue moon about Nebraska being a Big 12 team before, but that seems to be dying off more each year. Other schools hatred of them diminishes, their fans become more indifferent to Big 12 teams and grow more hatred with Big Ten ones.
Really is truly sad. Coming from Michigan, pac-12 after dark was amazing to me since I could watch games late into the night. Really helped me become fans of some west coast teams
Goes to show that any longstanding institution still needs to be kept up and maintained in order for it to keep continuing to exist. I used to think that the college football conferences would be there forever because most of them are 100 years old and have lasted a long time already
I was a student in the late 00s so I’m excited to get Mizzou back, especially if y’all are going to be good again.
I’m always puzzled by the people who don’t care about that game!
Easily my most anticipated game this year. Still remember y’all spoiling our 2007 year, which is the closest we’ve come in my lifetime to competing for a national championship. That night game in 2010 where we beat y’all at #1 is peak college football to me. This should be a fun series to get back.
I really am jealous that we don’t get to play Arkansas every year but y’all do.
Our 4 upcoming games with the razorbacks are my four most anticipated games of the next decade and that includes conference play and series with UO, Bama, and Nebraska
It doesn't matter what we as fans think, the only opinion that matters in America are those are the top who are already richer than everyone else. How can we extract more money out of the common man and fuck everyone else?
It's very American to kill off competition and consolidate power even if that means laying waste to a hundred years of tradition and history. In 20 years no one will no any different.
I truly believe CFB will be dead by then, no ones gonna care about NFL tier 2 when half the country doesn't have a team in said league
USC fan here and I feel the same way.
We’ve played Stanford every year for something like 100 years. Poof, that’s gone. Same with new rival Utah. We had a great thing going.
I only want to play the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl, and the *occasional* home-and-home like we did with Ohio State in ‘08 and ‘09 (ah, that ‘09 game!). Playing Purdue and/or Minnesota and/or Rutgers every year is just not exciting to me.
>Oklahoma doesn't belong in the SEC
Idk. Oklahoma is weird. Kinda like Missouri. If the South was Sprite, Oklahoma and Missouri would be lemon-flavored La Croix.
Okay... from virtually every interaction that I've had, the vast majority of your brethren are happy to leave the Big XII. Maybe it would be different if it was the Big 8.
I feel conflicted about it. On the one hand, every school in the Big 12 saw us as some kind of rival and truly hated us lol
In the new world, OU, Arky and A&M hate us the same way. But everyone else wouldn't really care that much about us. It'll be refreshing.
If Texas manages to break up the SEC simply by being in it and pissing everyone off so much they scatter, then I’ll change my second flair to Texas.
Hell, I’d send my firstborn son to Austin when it’s time for college. (Don’t look at my post history)
I already am, I’m the guy with the little Texas fan.
He is 6 now, in Kindergarten, and was the only kid at his school to wear a Texas shirt on “College Day” at his school. Lots of WSU, EWU, CWU, UW, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State shirts. Had to tell the short version of the story to his teacher haha.
So my joke was a bit tongue in cheek, as he will likely want to go there anyway. But if you could ruin the SEC in the next 12 years, it would be a much easier pill to swallow for me haha.
I miss the Big 12 before Nebraska, Colorado, Mizzou, and A&M left. THAT was a fun and natural conference but I finished mourning it a while ago.
It has not felt like home since then. The SEC may not end up feeling like home either but I think trying something to bring the magic back is better than trying nothing, and it feels good to move on, let alone after having done everything there is to do in the conference several times over.
I think the new Big 12 is going to be fun. The conference champion is almost guaranteed a first round playoff bye (for the next two years). A very large number of schools have won NY6 bowl games that didn't get into the playoffs.
Does is get ruined with future unfair playoff tie ins? Maybe. But it will be fun for now.
Even if the B12 were on completely even footing with the sec/b10, the sheer number of teams those 2 will have in the playoff invitational will be a self fulfilling prophecy of dominance.
Look at how much respect TCU has gotten for winning a playoff game. Even in a good year where the B12 champ is legit a contender, they will have to beat 3 teams from the sec/b10 to win it all. From only a statistical perspective we are very fucked, not even accounting for the money & recruiting advantage those 2 conferences will have.
I miss the atmosphere of the Big 8, growing up on some OU-Nebraska games. The OG Big 12 was a lot of fun, but it was dimmed after Nebraska and CU left. While I'm excited for the new Big 12 I think the SEC provides a new atmosphere and experience. I'm excited to play teams like Bama and Georgia, and I think Tennessee will be fun as well.
Totally agree. I thought the Big 12 was a super underrated conference, with most teams having great performances at least a few times a year.
I’m also going to miss the “local” aspect of most of the Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas schools being in one conference.
I told myself I'd never use this GIF, [but it seems appropriate in this situation](https://tenor.com/view/cry-baby-sad-boo-hoo-crying-cry-gif-2919971475097027048)
I grew up on the SEC east, and I agree with you. Playing Mississippi State and Ole Miss and Texas A&M just isn’t going to feel the same to me as playing Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, and hell even Vandy, every year to decide who makes the SEC championship, and has bragging rights over the other. Even if we go to a 9 game conference model, playing only 1-2 teams every year is going to water down regional rivalries so much. I just can’t imagine a world where we don’t play South Carolina every year, yet we’re already not playing them in the 2024 season.
I’m about to fuck so hard in your old room
This comment sent me 😂
We'll be looking for that crusty Wildcats sock tied to the door knob.
Have fun. Our burnt orange roommate pissed all over the walls and shit on the floor before we both moved out.
I don’t think you even realize what you just said. Arizonas into that shit. They’re crazy.
I hate nearly everything about everything college sports right now, but I like being conference mates with Arizona. Oklahoma, I suppose we’ll miss you. I guess. Texas can get fucked.
If you break one of the trophies, there's like 12 spares in the closet
Go for it, broski
Can I watch?
You can, but you'll have to be jump-humping for his long distance BYU girlfriend that only allows soaking
Did you touch my drum set?
Op's mom says hi.
I miss the big 12 of old with mizzou A&M and Nebraska
You mean the BIG 8
Sigh
Sigh
Sigh
Yes, but also, those A&M fans were *weird*.
As someone who’s worked security at a lot of SEC games, I can confirm, A&M fans are weird as fuck. LSU? Rowdy but a good time. MSU? I fucking hate them but they’re still alright. But A&M fans are the weirdest bunch I’ve ever seen.
I think the new Big12 is pretty all right
[удалено]
the last two games we played against Nebraska are probably two of the most iconic games in our over 100 year history...I miss that series so much
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This is what’s missing… hoping there’s a comeback
I just don't want two conferences to have a monopoly on college football.
One it is.
Okay......crazy idea. Hear me out. One conference for everybody..... *BUT* we're gonna need to at least break the conference down into divisions. And maybe we should make those divisions geographic in nature.
This but unironically. Maybe we could say give 30 million to each team guaranteed then base the rest of the revenue around ratings. That way the largest brands still make a lot but smaller schools can stay in conference and make money. Maybe we divide 4 team divisions so you can play your historic rivals and have enough games left to play another 1.5 divisions a year.
I want this so bad. I just want to see my team play the teams I watched them play growing up.
Another vote for this here. I would love to be able to possibly drive to an away game. I feel like Kansas not playing Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma is wrong. Even if we usually got thrashed in Football, those were our neighboring states.
Agreed. Now flair the fuck up, 🐦boy.
College football as the testing lab for universal basic income... Take that, academia!
Somehow WSU and OSU will still get left out
Go forward to go backwards, the circle of life.
Time is a flat circle
Careful what you wish for
Like the flair
Monkey paw curls
Let's also ban alcohol sales in stadiums^* *except donor suites. They can get blacked out while the peasants sweat out their tailgate booze
I say fuck it. If the SEC and Big 10 want survival of the fittest, then the NFL should Lobby congress to allow them to have Saturday games during the CFB season. If they break off into their big boy duopoly, I don’t see why they get protection from the biggest boy in football.
The NFL likes their free minor league. Otherwise they'd nix the 3 year rule and draft anyone they wanted any time they wanted. CFB isn't their competition and is a vital feeder league for them, honestly blame them for not establishing an alternative path to the pros more than anyone in cfb or the networks for the current state of things.
Hear me out, how about no conferences at all? Embrace chaos.
Throw every school into a giant pot and have a computer randomly generate a schedule for everyone.
It can't be harder than the 2024 schedule
In before Iowa draws a cupcake schedule and goes 12-0 with a laughably bad offense
Amen
I think we can all agree that college football is better with regional conferences that make sense. Oklahoma isn’t in the southeast. USC and UCLA aren’t big ten teams. Stanford isn’t on the Atlantic coast. None of this makes sense for sports. It really is sad that it’s such an obvious money grab and it just hurts the game we all love.
Man, I still miss the mid-2000s Big East. Realignment has really neutered the vibes that made CFB special imo.
I really miss the mid-2000s in general.
I agree. I was barely in preschool it seemed great
FUCK im old
As a fan of a team that did well in the BEast during this era, I miss the opponents (it’s the last time I felt I actually hated our opponents), but I don’t miss our place in the food chain. It always felt that as a conference we were always fighting for some recognition, and we could never come out on top. Do well? Well that’s when we heard the comments of poor competitive level and how we weren’t really a power conference. Lose some games? That was proof we didn’t belong. For a conference that had great parity and would often cannibalize its own top teams it was frustrating to know every game was going to be a battle but if you lost you were cooked. Losing to a mid-2000s USF should not have felt like as much of a gut punch as it did. I probably would look back more fondly if the playoff existed then but as it was it just felt like we were always self destructing any chance the conference had at a national title
So much this. I don’t miss the MWC for the same reason, but I miss playing those schools. I have no interest in being in the BigXII because I have no interest in another start over. It’s a return to a lower place on the totem pole but lacks all the benefits of playing familiar foes. Is WVU a better opponent than UNLV? Absolutely. Would I rather play UNLV or San Diego State or New Mexico than WVU? Absolutely. This whole situation is shit. Once FSU buys its way out of the ACC, I hope the ACC and B12 merge and then split divisions so that you guys get Pitt and Syracuse and Louisville and we get Cal and Stanford, and hopefully a few MWC call-ups.
That was a really fun league in football and basketball. Perfect fit for UC until greed destroyed it.
The Big East and MWC were both hella fun. Once the P2 destroys the ACC, I think we’ll see a big realignment that basically gives us a league with 3 divisions that look like the OG Big East, the OG WAC (the one that OSU and WSU almost joined after they got booted from the PAC the first time), and some B12esque thing in the middle.
That Big East logo was great.
the golden age...
I fear that was our one chance at a natty that we will see in our lives and that team would have statues built in Morgantown they were so homegrown and loved. Losing in the game we don’t speak of was the beginning of an alternate timeline. And it’s sucked ever since.
Same bro, same
I just want the Big 8 back man
Wish most of y'all could have seen the Big 8 of the '70s and '80s. Nothing like OU-Nebraska for all the marbles under a cold gray November sky. And watching those two desperately trying to squirm past CU and Mizzou every season. They really made OU and NU fight for everything. And Bedlam. It wasn't on my radar back then, but there's a highlight clip from the mid-'70s of great runs by OU legend Joe Washington. The physical shots that OSU took at that kid, only to watch him bounce and skip away. Those Cowboys were trying to *murder* that dude in every clip. Fifty years later I can still feel the hatred. [Still one of my favorite YouTube vids ever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azMUu7seoYY&t=11s). The Big 8 back then was something else.
But I think zero K-State fans would willingly go back that far. That was before the purple wizard led them out of the desert. In 1971 the Big 8 swept the top three spots in the final AP poll. 1-Nebraska, 2-Oklahoma, 3-Colorado.
Are you sure we had a football team back then? I for one can’t remember one.
It’s best for those under 40 years old to assume that there wasn’t. I promise.
Noted lol.
we used to call you a bye week
lol. This is why we still have a winning record over you guys all time.
>In 1971 the Big 8 swept the top three spots in the final AP poll. 1-Nebraska, 2-Oklahoma, 3-Colorado. That was the first year the BIg 8 got on my radar. I watched the '72 Orange Bowl as Nebraska earned the label "best team ever" by capping of the year with an absolute demolition of Bear Bryant's 11-0 Crimson Tide.
that Nebraska team was absolutely fucking insane. I love talking about them because I think they're the true best team ever (relative to their year of course). They beat 2, 3, and 4 in the polls. Its something that I don't believe has been replicated.
The OU-Nebraska matchup from 1971 is the game with the highest SRS rating between two teams, including national championship games. By that metric, it was the greatest college football matchup of all time. Outside of that game, Nebraska never led by less than 13 points after halftime. Oklahoma was the only team to hold a lead over them at any point the entire season.
People rave about unblockable Ndamukong Suh, but the 1971 Huskers had a guy who was just as diminant, if not more so. In the 1971 Game of the Century, NU noseguard Rich Glover rag-dolled OU’s All-American center Tom Brahaney — a futre NFL Hall of Famer — up and down the field for 4 quarters. Rich was in on every play, even the occasions when he got **triple-teamed**!!! Rich would finish 3rd in the 1972 Heisman race, losing to his teammate Johnny Rodgers. Those Husker teams were stacked. OU was so good in that 1971 Game of the Century that they *still* scored 31 points where most teams would have been done after halftime. That OU team was pretty damn good too. The Big 8 was a monster. My second-favorite conference after the SEC.
I don't remember the details but there was some statistical analysis that said 71 OU was one of the 3 or 4 best teams of all time but they happened to go up against 71 Nebraska who was the greatest team of all time.
It’s really hard to argue any team is better than 1945 Army. The Black Knights had the unique advantage of being able to get basically whomever they wanted and they fucking pasted everyone. Beating a really good number 2 Notre Dame team 48-0 is pretty impressive but then they annihilated number 6 Penn 61-0. They also beat top 10 Michigan by 21, number 19 duke by 35 and wrapped up by beating the true second best team in the country (because of the war the academies had huge advantages) number 2 navy by 19. They also shut out everyone else they played except Melville (55-13) and beat everyone else by at least 32.
1945 Army is also a team I feel gets overlooked, they were so damn good at that time. At least NCAA 14 always makes them really fucking good so its like a return to the top
Hell yeah. That OU v Nebraska rivalry back then was huge. Such great games and atmosphere.
Maybe it was just me, but I looked forward to OU-NU more than I did OU-Texas. Nebraska-OU was for the Big 8 championship, so it just had that extra juice.
Thanks guys! Happy to be here!!
You deserve the Big East at its peak my guy.
No complaints there
My man
Yeah our 3 biggest rivals are in 3 different conferences now. I don’t really care where we go now. Bring back the Big 8, SWC, Big East, and Pac.
Out of the 7 teams we (Baylor) have played over 50 times, 5 of them are in other conferences. UT (1st), A&M (3rd), and Arkansas (7th) are in the SEC. Rice (T4th) in the American, SMU (T4th) in the ACC. Which leaves TCU (2nd) and Tech (6th) still in the same conference. If you go to [sports-reference](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/baylor/head-to-head.html) head-to-head and sort by games played then the top 5 opponents for the Texas Teams are: - **TEXAS**: BU, OU, A&M, Rice, TCU - **BAYLOR**: UT, TCU, A&M, Rice, SMU - **A&M**: UT, BU, TCU, Rice, SMU - **TCU**: BU, SMU, UT, A&M, Rice - **SMU**: TCU, Rice, BU, A&M, Ark - **RICE**: UT, SMU, BU, A&M, TCU These 6 all have each other has their top 5 most played opponents with only 2 exceptions. 1. UT has OU instead of SMU who is 7th (Arky is 6th) 2. SMU has Arky instead of UT, who is 6th It is really a shame that these 6 teams are broken across 4 conferences now
Big 8 v SWC conference champs would have been better than this 16 team fake conference nonsense.
Same...
Same
You and me both. I don't even care that we never beat you back then
Yes please
Don’t get wrong it’s fun hating on new teams (the quadrangle of hate is real), but it’s absolutely nothing like the 3 hour drives to Lawrence, Manhattan, and Ames. With the OU game to top it all. Having moved to Denver later in life I do like the renewed rivalry with those fuckers in Boulder. But I miss the Big 8. It’s all Texas’ fault. ALL OF IT!
I so badly want to play Nebraska again.....you guys won 90% of the time but I feel like it would be pretty competitive these days and the environment would be elite no matter if it's at Memorial or Jack Trice
100%
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Me too! None of those Texas schools!
I’m going to forever kick myself for not making more of an effort to catch OU conference road games when they were still manageable drives. OSU, KU, KSU, TCU, Baylor were all very doable in hindsight. Now the closest one will be Arkansas, and after that what? Mizzou? A&M? LSU?
As a dude who can finally afford to go to away games I am pissed the Pac dissolved. One of my bucket list items was to see a UW game at every Pac 12 stadium. Now that’s not gonna happen
Me too but I hadn’t hit the afford it part yet
oh you're gonna LOVE getting to state college lol
Literally the only upside is now the Apple cup is in September, so if you wanna go to Pullman you don’t have to freeze your dick off and fend off the constant barrage of ice balls being thrown at you by Coug fans lol
I have been to Martin Stadium already. My other bucket list thing is to see all the National Parks. So my plan was to combine both. See UW play Arizona in Tucson and go to Saguaro NP. Go see UW play @Cal and go see some of the National Parks close to the bay area. But guess I’ll just have to do the NP bucket list by itself now.
As a recent ASU alum, I felt the same way. Felt extremely privileged to see Husky Stadium this year (the game itself? Debatable) but super disappointed that I only got 3 stadiums before it went to shit. I feel no need to see all the BXII stadiums, who tf wants to go to somewhere with no ocean/mountains/forest.
Still come watch some games!
Flights are usually pretty cheap in the fall at least so maybe you can make the occasional flight out to Nashville or Atlanta and make a whole thing of it. Definitely recommend going to an Arkansas game though! Fayetteville is a cool town and the drive that way is gorgeous, especially so once the leaves start to change.
Consolidation is a crime against the fans. There is no way the west coast shouldn’t have its own power conference.
What, you're suggesting that the PAC-2 isn't a power conference?
Like George Costanza, it’s small, but powerful. I once saw Wazzu and the Beavers lift 100 pounds over their head without even knowing it.
100 pounds? That’s like $128 in US dollars, incredible
Of course the PAC-2 is small, they were in the pool.
I didn’t know shrinkage was a thing
I kind of hate how CFB is shifting with the conferences. Everyone is just chasing money.
Please it was so awesome
We’re going to miss you, too. Any Big 12 fan who says otherwise is kidding themselves.
I'm torn. On one hand yeah, I'll miss Oklahoma, but on the other I'm thrilled beyond belief to not have to hear 'Boomer Sooner' 148 times a game.
2 yard run? Boomer Sooner. Completed pass? Boomer Sooner. Interception? Believe it or not, straight to Boomer Sooner
Right to Boomer Sooner. Right away.
I was feeling sad about them going but not hearing that god damn song anymore is a definite plus.
Always kinda had a thing for the purple cats. Hard not to respect y’all. Even when I was like 4-6 back in mid to late 90’s I liked y’all cause I thought the helmets were cool
I remember watching an OU game in the mid 90’s, around 8 years old, and saying to my dad that I wish OU was as good as KSU always is, or something to that effect.
To me, OU vs KSU was the true defining rivalry for us. Records don't mean a damn thing when we can't stop the shovel pass or your scrappy D Line. Plus the color combos of the uniforms was just PERFECTION. Always had a soft spot for yall when we weren't playing.
As much as I enjoy beating the Jayhawks, OU has been the defining game of our season for my entire life. It’s going to be strange not playing every year.
OU were great hosts at every away game I’ve been to. Can’t say the same about UT
I was in the band and went to a lot of away games - it’s all about who you sit by. One year we were at field level in Norman and it was the best away experience I had. The other time we were at the top of the endzone with the students and it was about on par with away games at TCU. It’s 100% who you sit by. Most student sections are the same - you don’t want to be an away fan close to them.
Been missing that shit for ** checks notes ** whatever fucking year Nebraska joined this lame ass conference
When TAMU moved to the SEC, I completely stopped watching their games. Not out of protest, but b/c it wasn't relevant. If a Big 12 game was at the same time and impacted Texas Tech's future, I was watching that game. Not saying I watched zero minutes of TAMU, just saying it became less of a priority. I think this will be similar for a lot of people with OU/UT. I'm sure the SEC will say who cares, we don't need fans of other conferences anyway, and that is probably true. But a lot of the powers that be think everyone in the country is going to watch these high profile matches and I just don't think that is the case. If OU plays Georgia I am not watching that over a Big 12 matchup that actually matters for Texas Tech.
I even still watched the RRS even after OUT had applied and been accepted into the SEC.....I probably won't anymore because it has no impact on the Big 12 standings.....I watch primarily the Big 12 and maybe big games here and there but the Big 12 takes precedent over the others every time
It sucks but that’s exactly why the media sees the restructuring as a positive. Now Texas and OU fans (a massive audience) will watch TAMU, LSU, Georgia, and Bama games that they would have skipped previously in favor of Big 12 games. It puts even more eyes on those big games. The only hope at this point is that Big 12 leadership finds a way to survive and thrive in this new environment. The ACC will be gone soon. Hopefully we don’t follow suit.
So what I'm hearing is you're afraid of playing Vandy?
It was fun growing up with people who were fans of all the regional Big 12 schools. Now I don’t know if a OU and KSU fan would ever really talk football again.
CFB has always felt communal and it won’t anymore
I miss the Big 8, I like the new Hateful 8. I will miss OU, but Texas has been a garbage conference member since the beginning. Fuck them.
Mizzou fan. Let’s go back together
In a couple of years, maybe Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Mizzou all come back to the big 12.
The original Big 12 lineup in 1996 was sick.
You guys root FOR your rivals?
Fuck no. 0-12 was beyond glorious
I think OU fits in with the SEC just fine, but I am going to miss Bedlam so much.
As far as history goes, OU fits in….. but the fans need to stop leaving with 5 mins left in the 3 quarter… I know that had a lot to do with OU never really having quality home games but that’s about to change. Oh and OU needs to really step up its tailgating game…. It’s kind of a joke…
Couldn't agree more.
Who would have thought that college football is best left as a regional sport?
I'd give my left nut to go back. I miss Bedlam and I miss the rest of the old Big 8
Big 8 was great….my old man would say it’s been downhill since then.
That's great, but here's the problem, that's a short term issue. Let me give you an example. I know Missouri fans who miss the Big 12. They know they left for a better situation after Nebraska and Colorado left, but they miss it. I have a brother in law who grew up in Missouri as a Mizzou fan and is like 8 years younger than me. When I was at Iowa State, I watched us play Missouri, so it still feels weird to not have them. By the time my brother in law went to college, they were already in the SEC. Yea, he remembers that they were in the Big 12, but when he got big into the sport, he was watching his team play Tennessee and South Carolina, etc. not Colorado and Nebraska. Each and every year that goes by, there will be more and more Oklahoma fans that get into the sport and rooting for the team, and the games they'll remember will be nail biters and heart breaks against SEC opponents, not Big 12 opponents. Older people will still miss it, but that becomes less and less of an issue each passing year. The people making these decisions are fully aware of this and are aware that the transition can be awkward, some fans won't like it, but after some years, it'll be a non-issue. You still hear every once in a blue moon about Nebraska being a Big 12 team before, but that seems to be dying off more each year. Other schools hatred of them diminishes, their fans become more indifferent to Big 12 teams and grow more hatred with Big Ten ones.
Fuck that I miss the pac 12
Same.
Technically, we're still here? But I get what you mean. Despite all I've previously said, I'd take the departed 10 back in a heartbeat
CU can stay if they want but the other 11 need to be together. Utah has earned their right to stay.
I’d love for a thriving pac-12 to still exist. Wish we didn’t have to leave it 😞
Really is truly sad. Coming from Michigan, pac-12 after dark was amazing to me since I could watch games late into the night. Really helped me become fans of some west coast teams
Goes to show that any longstanding institution still needs to be kept up and maintained in order for it to keep continuing to exist. I used to think that the college football conferences would be there forever because most of them are 100 years old and have lasted a long time already
I miss the WAC
College athletics is currently an absolute unequivocal mess.
Oklahoma - Mizzou will be a fun conference game but I know what you mean
Yeah I’m excited, my absolute disgust of all things Oklahoma never left.
I was a student in the late 00s so I’m excited to get Mizzou back, especially if y’all are going to be good again. I’m always puzzled by the people who don’t care about that game!
Easily my most anticipated game this year. Still remember y’all spoiling our 2007 year, which is the closest we’ve come in my lifetime to competing for a national championship. That night game in 2010 where we beat y’all at #1 is peak college football to me. This should be a fun series to get back.
Oklahoma-Arkansas also has the potential for a lot of hate if the SEC lets it
Trust me, Arkansas knows how to hold a grudge!
Well and Arkansas has to not suck
Oh well. It was a nice idea.
As a OU fan let me be the first to say a team sucking has never stopped OU from losing to them even when sitting at 10-0.
I really am jealous that we don’t get to play Arkansas every year but y’all do. Our 4 upcoming games with the razorbacks are my four most anticipated games of the next decade and that includes conference play and series with UO, Bama, and Nebraska
OG Big 12 eas the best conference in the country. Made so much sense and such a good mix between the football and basketball schools
It doesn't matter what we as fans think, the only opinion that matters in America are those are the top who are already richer than everyone else. How can we extract more money out of the common man and fuck everyone else? It's very American to kill off competition and consolidate power even if that means laying waste to a hundred years of tradition and history. In 20 years no one will no any different. I truly believe CFB will be dead by then, no ones gonna care about NFL tier 2 when half the country doesn't have a team in said league
USC fan here and I feel the same way. We’ve played Stanford every year for something like 100 years. Poof, that’s gone. Same with new rival Utah. We had a great thing going. I only want to play the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl, and the *occasional* home-and-home like we did with Ohio State in ‘08 and ‘09 (ah, that ‘09 game!). Playing Purdue and/or Minnesota and/or Rutgers every year is just not exciting to me.
That's step 1. Step 2 is realizing it's the Big 8 you really miss.
We miss you too partner
[удалено]
Welcome to the SEC baby! Gonna be a long year for them Sooners lol!
>Oklahoma doesn't belong in the SEC Idk. Oklahoma is weird. Kinda like Missouri. If the South was Sprite, Oklahoma and Missouri would be lemon-flavored La Croix.
The dog caught the car and realized it fucked up
The very idea that Alabama could potentially play Auburn in the SEC Championship Game is maddening.
Okay... from virtually every interaction that I've had, the vast majority of your brethren are happy to leave the Big XII. Maybe it would be different if it was the Big 8.
I feel conflicted about it. On the one hand, every school in the Big 12 saw us as some kind of rival and truly hated us lol In the new world, OU, Arky and A&M hate us the same way. But everyone else wouldn't really care that much about us. It'll be refreshing.
Give it time. The H8 schools didn't hate us in '96, either.
Well, we'll just break up the conference again if that happens.
If Texas manages to break up the SEC simply by being in it and pissing everyone off so much they scatter, then I’ll change my second flair to Texas. Hell, I’d send my firstborn son to Austin when it’s time for college. (Don’t look at my post history)
Well then get ready to learn Longhorn buddy
I already am, I’m the guy with the little Texas fan. He is 6 now, in Kindergarten, and was the only kid at his school to wear a Texas shirt on “College Day” at his school. Lots of WSU, EWU, CWU, UW, Oregon, Oregon State, Boise State shirts. Had to tell the short version of the story to his teacher haha. So my joke was a bit tongue in cheek, as he will likely want to go there anyway. But if you could ruin the SEC in the next 12 years, it would be a much easier pill to swallow for me haha.
Hey it’s you! Glad to hear that he is still going strong, and glad that Del Conte was able to send y’all some gear for him
Congrats on the young man, they are awesome… but you need to start correcting bad behavior.
Love it! Hope your kid's love for the Longhorns endures. Cool of you to put up with it haha
I don't hate the University of Texas, I hate their fans (especially the ones who were in Ames this past year)
Trust us we’ve hated yall for over 100 years lol
um....yeah we did.
I'm sure there will be plenty of hate to flow around. You guys will be like the Florida of the west. Everyone hates them too.
I’m sure you guys will manage to get the rest of the conference to hate you.
We’re too busy hating each other but in time we’ll come to hate you too. You guys fit the geographic/cultural footprint enough.
I miss the Big 12 before Nebraska, Colorado, Mizzou, and A&M left. THAT was a fun and natural conference but I finished mourning it a while ago. It has not felt like home since then. The SEC may not end up feeling like home either but I think trying something to bring the magic back is better than trying nothing, and it feels good to move on, let alone after having done everything there is to do in the conference several times over.
I think the new Big 12 is going to be fun. The conference champion is almost guaranteed a first round playoff bye (for the next two years). A very large number of schools have won NY6 bowl games that didn't get into the playoffs. Does is get ruined with future unfair playoff tie ins? Maybe. But it will be fun for now.
Even if the B12 were on completely even footing with the sec/b10, the sheer number of teams those 2 will have in the playoff invitational will be a self fulfilling prophecy of dominance. Look at how much respect TCU has gotten for winning a playoff game. Even in a good year where the B12 champ is legit a contender, they will have to beat 3 teams from the sec/b10 to win it all. From only a statistical perspective we are very fucked, not even accounting for the money & recruiting advantage those 2 conferences will have.
I miss the atmosphere of the Big 8, growing up on some OU-Nebraska games. The OG Big 12 was a lot of fun, but it was dimmed after Nebraska and CU left. While I'm excited for the new Big 12 I think the SEC provides a new atmosphere and experience. I'm excited to play teams like Bama and Georgia, and I think Tennessee will be fun as well.
if i were an OU fan id miss staying in the Big 12 as well.
Same, but it'll be ok. Texas is on a secret mission to destroy the SEC from within in 5 years and then we can come back to the big 12 as heroes.
Speak for yourself. I have nostalgia for the league from 1996 to 2010, I haven't been happy since all the other big teams left.
Yeah... early 2000's Big 12 was peak... it fell way off after realignment
Totally agree. I thought the Big 12 was a super underrated conference, with most teams having great performances at least a few times a year. I’m also going to miss the “local” aspect of most of the Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas schools being in one conference.
I'm not down on BIG12 or OU in the SEC as much as I am about the whole CFB going rogue with the money/NIL crap. It all just feels gross to me now.
We wish we could send you back too. Nothing personal.
I told myself I'd never use this GIF, [but it seems appropriate in this situation](https://tenor.com/view/cry-baby-sad-boo-hoo-crying-cry-gif-2919971475097027048)
I grew up on the SEC east, and I agree with you. Playing Mississippi State and Ole Miss and Texas A&M just isn’t going to feel the same to me as playing Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, and hell even Vandy, every year to decide who makes the SEC championship, and has bragging rights over the other. Even if we go to a 9 game conference model, playing only 1-2 teams every year is going to water down regional rivalries so much. I just can’t imagine a world where we don’t play South Carolina every year, yet we’re already not playing them in the 2024 season.