Starting with Tulsa-Oklahoma Saturday 8 p.m., Fox’s FX cable channel this season airs weekly PAC-12 and Big 12 games, most in Saturday prime time.
Yesterday in a conference call conversation with the Fox College Football broadcasters it is clear they are not going to shy away from the tough questions. Lead play by play man and Washington native, Gus Johnson, lead analyst Charles Davis and studio analyst Marcus Allen all brought some strong and interesting comments about the short and long term state of college football as well as some candid insights.
Johnson on Texas A&M leaving the Big 12:” “You get the feeling that with A&M leaving, Oklahoma has to make a decision if the Big 12 doesn’t act swiftly. Bob Stoops has talked about the potential of leaving for the Pac-12 not only because it’s a great conference but it’s a tier one academic school. Texas A&M leaving is causing a major ripple effect. There seems to be blood in the water and other conferences are going to try to pillage off the Big 12.”
Johnson’s comments comes after a flurry of reports this week coming from media outlets in Oklahoma and Texas report that there is strong consideration that the Sooners, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and yes the University of Texas all could be headed to the PAC 12.
It is the move that almost took place last year but was headed off at the last minute by the Big 12 but this time things could be different. The move to the SEC by Texas A&M gives Oklahoma and the other schools in the conference the cover they needed to join what will become the first 16 team “Super Conference,” IF and it is still an IF Oklahoma wants to make the move.
The Sooners are right now in the drivers seat. They can chose to stay in the Big 12 and building it back up or heading to a more attractive long term deal with the PAC 12. We likely won’t have long to wait to find out what is up next.
The Longhorns could keep their network and simply fold it into the six networks that the other PAC 12 teams have.
So back to Fox and some more candid thoughts.
Davis on the preseason number one Sooners:” Like a lot of teams, they’re still searching for an identity. Bob Stoops spent the offseason telling the Oklahoma faithful that it’s time to win a championship. That shows there is urgency. The defensive line gave up a lot in the run game last year. That’s not normal for Oklahoma. If they can stop people on the ground, then we’ll have an Oklahoma team that’s in the national title mix.”
Allen on the issues that the NCAA needs to address:” The state of football on the field is excellent but off the field there are tremendous challenges. There has to be major changes and we’re kidding ourselves if we think we don’t have to. There has to be something done to give guys an incentive to stay in school. Schools are making a lot of money off of these young men and yes, they’re getting an education but there has to be something else. If you pulled back the curtain I’d think that every program is compromised in some way.”
