College softball began this weekend, a national quest to dethrone Oklahoma, winners now of three straight national championships, five of the last seven, and eleven straight Big 12 titles. It’s one of the few sports where Texas doesn’t usually beat Oklahoma. The Longhorns, like everybody else, set out this weekend to try that feat, in what will be the pair’s final season together in the Big 12 before both move to the SEC.
It’s a smaller thing, this facet of the rivalry, and to be fair, the rivalry only exists in any intense form in football. As schools and associated groups of people, Oklahoma and Texas are more similar than they are different, something illustrated by their dance partner status in conference realignment. We’ve said it too many times, but: The real rivalries are the ones it’s hard to schedule. Texas A&M did not want Texas in the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma held hands on the way in.
Whatever the intensity, given the contours of the various spring sports and where various teams rank within them, it’s possible the softball championship—the Big 12’s fourth-to-last on the calendar—will serve as the final Texas vs. Oklahoma showdown for control of a conference they’ve long ruled, at a minimum in the boardroom and most often on the various fields of play. If you’re looking for a finale to this book in the rivalry’s multi-volume history, softball might give you the closest thing to what you’re after. We didn’t know we wouldn’t get a football rematch.
A question that isn’t being asked a whole lot is what happens to Texas and Oklahoma when they join the SEC. Oklahoma will lose Oklahoma State in the deal (that rivalry has proven hard to schedule), but the Sooners will get Arkansas and LSU and Texas A&M themselves. Texas, though, gets the brunt of A&M. Texas becomes a natural rival for LSU, more natural than A&M ever was on Thanksgiving weekend. Texas has its own Arkansas history. The Longhorns lose a lot of Texas schools in the move—Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU—but to Oklahoma, with its DFW proximity and DFW undergraduate base, those losses are more meaningful than Texas’s parallel loss of Oklahoma State. Texas is gaining more rivalry in its day-to-day life. Oklahoma is losing some of its own.
What’s this going to do? Probably little. The Red River Rivalry is a cold war 364 days a year, the schools’ strengths not overlapping enough, barring a surprise from that fifth-ranked Longhorn softball team, to provide non-football clashes. Similarly, the Red River Rivalry is such an institution among Texas students that it will have plenty of staying power. It always has. (We assume it will become more of an institution among Oklahoma students, and especially alumni, with Bedlam now gone.) But if Oklahoma doesn’t keep up with Texas in football, and if Texas A&M does, or comes closer?
When Texas and Oklahoma announced their move to the SEC, it seemed like the SEC was getting a great football program in Oklahoma and a great brand in Texas. Now, Texas holds both those cards. Texas is regaining a vicious feud with Texas A&M, one that matters leagues more to Texas people than any cross-river rivalry does. Oklahoma is regaining…Arkansas. Unless this softball season gives us something historic, the Red River might already be drying up. Either way, we’ve probably seen its crest.
Quick(er) Hitters
Steve Sarkisian promoted Brandon Harris from director of recruiting to general manager, filling the Glasscock vacancy. That sounds like a nice job. Like general managing the Dodgers.
We touched on Steve McMichael’s Hall of Fame selection in a set of Notes last week, but worth mentioning here as well. The Longhorn and Chicago Bear who’s currently battling ALS is on his way to Canton.
The Roundup
The men’s basketball team won up in Fort Worth but lost on Tuesday at home against Iowa State before blowing the shoes off of West Virginia this weekend. They’re hanging around the middle of the Big 12 as they enjoy their week off these weeknights. Road game against Houston on Saturday. Not safely in their preferred tournament, but close.
The women’s basketball team keeps winning, taking that big one against Kansas State at the Moody Center (Madison Booker continues to rock) and then taking care of TCU on the road. They’re two games back of Oklahoma and one back of K-State now in the Big 12, with Oklahoma still tentatively expected to come back to earth. The Longhorns are still a 2-seed in ESPN’s bracketology, which was updated Friday morning. They’ve got Houston on Wednesday night on the road, then a little homestand against Iowa State and Texas Tech. Iowa State’s been competitive, but Houston’s near the bottom of the conference and Tech has a losing Big 12 record.
The baseball team opens the season this weekend to high expectations. They were picked second in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, trailing only TCU. Omaha is a possibility. They’ll host San Diego Friday through Sunday for a three-game set, then welcome Houston Christian for one game on Tuesday night.
That vaunted softball team opened the season conspicuously, going 5–0 on a West Coast weekend swing while winning four of the games by eight or more runs and scoring 16 or more three separate times. Only UCLA gave the Longhorns any real trouble, and they only did it once, keeping the opener to a 3–2 margin before Texas won the next day 16–0. Mac Morgan threw a no-hitter in the opener Friday against San Diego. Freshman Teagan Kavan threw five scoreless innings before struggling in the sixth in that 3–2 win over UCLA. Reese Atwood’s home run in the second sparked the Texas scoring in that one. The team’s in Clearwater this weekend, facing top-five Tennessee and Stanford as well as UNC, Kentucky, and Northwestern. They too will host Houston Christian for a weeknight game next week, theirs coming on Wednesday.
The men’s tennis team beat Stanford last weekend and Florida this past weekend, staying near the top of the national rankings. They go to New York this weekend for the ITA indoor national championships.
The women’s tennis team was in Seattle for their own ITA indoor nationals, losing in the quarterfinals to Oklahoma State but beating Texas A&M in the round of 16 and Ohio State in a consolation match. With wins last weekend over Wisconsin and Georgia, they’re hanging around the top ten in the ITA rankings heading into a match on Sunday against Auburn, back home in Austin.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both beat SMU on the road on Friday, while a host of Longhorns—Noah Duperre, Bridget O’Neil, Jake Foster, and Luke Hobson are the names I’m seeing—were in action at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar. I think the best result was Hobson helping the U.S. earn bronze in the 4×100-meter freestyle. A number of Texas Exes were also involved on the American and Mexican teams.
As they do, the Texas track and field teams were in Albuquerque last weekend and Boston this past weekend. Achievements: Ackelia Smith set the current NCAA long in long jump. Leo Neugebauer set the NCAA best in heptathlon. Kristine Blazevica, Kelsey Daniel, Brian Herron, Kevona Davis, Aaliyah Foster, Nina Ndubuisi, the men’s 4×400, the women’s 4×400, and the men’s distance medley relay all set new season bests good enough to sit in indoor national qualifying territory right now, joining Yusuf Bizimana, Cole Lindhorst, Sam Hurley, Kendrick Smallwood, Marilyn Nwora, and Marcellus Moore, who were all already there and have since maintained qualifying position. Athletes have another chance to crack the top 16 (we think that’s the number, and we think it’s top 12 for relays) this weekend in South Bend at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational.
The women’s golf team went 3–0 in matches out in what turned out to be the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, kicking off the spring season in a strong way. They beat USC, Florida, and Arizona State, two of whom were ranked in the top ten coming in.
The men’s golf team finished 15th out of 20 teams at an invitational in Hawaii late last week. It’s unclear to me if it was a bad weekend or if they were playing some of their depth guys.
