Welcome to Bevo’s Fake Nuts, our weekly (for the most part) column on the Texas Longhorns.
First of all, credit to Chris Beard, last night was very cool. As Shaka Smart devotees, we have some resentment towards Beard, but we can always let that go occasionally (because it’s entirely not his fault), and today’s a good time to do that.
Now.
Oklahoma!
Something we haven’t asked enough is where Lincoln Riley’s departure leaves Texas. The Sooners are having to conduct a coaching search for what, the first time ever? And the names they’re trotting out…
Josh Heupel has Tennessee ninth in the SEC in recruiting right now, per 247. Mario Cristobal hasn’t been able to match the success of…Mark Helfrich so far in Eugene. Brent Venables has never been a head coach, and it’s unclear how such work would mesh with his side job as George Bluth’s surrogate.
Maybe one of these guys will make it happen. But right now, Oklahoma’s coming off having its worst team since 2014, and there’s not exactly some inherent grandeur to Oklahoma that will save it from a Nebraska-like fate. Within the New SEC right now, the Sooners are being outrecruited by Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Texas, and with a whole lot of recruits from the southern part of California still attached to OU, Kentucky, Missouri, LSU, and Arkansas are sitting big in the rearview. Norman’s a nice town, and Oklahoma City’s a nice city, but it doesn’t have Austin’s heft or Gainesville’s proximity to talent or the recent dominance at a national level easily remembered at LSU, Alabama, and now Georgia. Texas will always feel one good hire away from being “back.” Oklahoma might be a more inherently difficult job.
This, on the surface, is great news for Texas. Texas would love to eclipse Oklahoma. It’s been a long time since Texas has had the upper hand on Oklahoma.
The problem, of course, is that Texas is also a mess. Sure, Kansas played a couple tough games these last two weeks, but…we’re using Kansas as a measuring stick for Texas. Kansas is not the top choice for a proxy.
And so, we wonder, looking at two programs feeling the slaps of choppy seas: Might Texas and Oklahoma actually want to stay in the Big 12 for a couple years? Yes, I know, I get it, they’ll get more money once they jump into the SEC. But the SEC will be there, and the money will be there, and buying their way out early will cost money too. Why not drag their feet a little bit? Wait for the buyout to drop. In the meantime, try to compete with BYU and Oklahoma State and Iowa State and Baylor and Cincinnati-depending-when-that-happens, rather than suffer potential grave indignities with regularity against their brethren to the east.
Eventually, duh, yes, you want to be in the SEC. But right now, a couple more years in limbo might not be the worst thing.
