Oklahoma and Conference Expansion: Where Will the Sooner Schooner Sail?

Everybody with even a remote interest in college football knows the biggest news over the beginning of the season has not necessarily revolved around the games played on the field. No, the biggest news thus far has involved the games being played behind closed doors by school presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners.

The FBS division of college football is starting to resemble Hollywood with BCS conferences either expanding like Rosie O'Donnell with a Krispy Kreme credit card or imploding like Charlie Sheen at a hotel with a sticky-fingered hooker.

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were poised to abandon the foundering ship the Big 12 had become when Texas A&M announced they would no longer sail with Texas and were taking a life boat to the S.S. EC.

Coupled with the loss just months earlier of both Colorado and powerhouse Nebraska, the Big 12 would now be down to only nine teams and but a shadow of its former self.

At this point it was apparent to both state schools that the Big 12 was quickly taking on water and the bilge pumps were beyond repair.

However, help was spotted on the horizon out to the West. The Pac-12 had already sent signals that they had room on board and could take some select survivors of this Heartland maritime disaster. Rescue was at hand and the day was saved!

Or was it?

The newly expanded Pac-12 had sent them a rescue raft only to row it out of reach just as the Indian Nation brethren were poised to jump on board.

Apparently, their SOS was met with a reply of "Okies not allowed" that was last heard during the Dust Bowl era.

Maybe this was Oklahoma's own fault for trying to include Texas, their Longhorn Network and their "everything is bigger and better in Texas" attitude in the deal.

Wherever the fault lies, the end result is it has left the Sooners in a precarious predicament. 

The state of Oklahoma, like most of the Big 12 teams, has a fairly small population and the conference is in disarray. These are not great bargaining chips when it comes to negotiating TV deals.

Because, though football drives the engines of college conferences and the massive game broadcast deals that toss around numbers usually reserved for astronomy and stimulus bills, it is not the quality of the program as much as it is the amount of television sets a conference can guarantee. 

So, what's next for the school in Norman? It is time for some "strategery" as George Bush would say.

For now, it's back to the Big Whatever and the hopes that a magical season for the top-ranked Sooners brings another shot at a national championship for Stoops' Troops.

But make no mistake, this is not the end of conference realignment. The powers-that-be at OU will not sit idly by while Texas continues to try to run roughshod over the conference, while telling the Baylors and Iowa States to eat their Bevo pie and like it.

While Oklahoma did save some face by forcing Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe out, Texas is still going to try to gain every advantage it can, including using their partners at ESPN to push the NCAA to allow them to broadcast high school football games on their school network as a recruiting advantage.

Oklahoma is a strong enough brand to go to any conference they want to go and bring OSU with them. Look for both Oklahoma and little brother Oklahoma State to both be in a new conference within the next three years.