In Stewart Mandel’s weekly mailbag Q&A for The Athletic, he discusses OU’s chances after moving to the SEC. In the article, which is behind a paywall, he was asked:
With Oklahoma, Texas, USC and UCLA making moves, do you see them going the route of Miami, Nebraska and Colorado?
The full article is available for subscribers here ($) Below is a snippet of his response:
“Knowing that, of the four schools changing homes this go-around, Texas to the SEC is the only one that feels like a semi-natural fit. And I wouldn’t have said that if Texas A&M weren’t there. But between those two, Arkansas and LSU, there are some commonalities. Oklahoma: Not as much. I wrote then and believe even more so now ($) that Oklahoma will rue leaving a conference where it was one of two alphas (and the far more successful one at that) to become one of a half-dozen similarly renowned programs. It would not surprise me at all if we’re one day talking about Oklahoma the way we do Nebraska today.”
Stewart Mandel is a national CFB writer and editor at The Athletic. You might remember him from around this time last year when he predicted Brent Venables would have a tough time in his first season at OU, drawing the ire of many fans. Turned out to be pretty accurate — could it be the same situation here?