College football drives everything these days, and it's no secret why - money. And over the last week, it has become clear that Texas and Oklahoma want more of it. In what had felt like a relatively calm summer, a lightning bolt struck the college sports world a few days ago when news broke that the Sooners and Longhorns were talking to the SEC about joining.
The universities hadn't said much publicly on the subject, outside of the usual generalities like, "We're always watching the ever-changing landscape," and "Ensuring our brand is in a strong conference and competing at the highest level of [blah, blah, blah]."
However, the schools did meet with the remaining eight members of the Big 12 on Sunday to inform them Texas and Oklahoma would not be renewing the media rights deal currently in place.
That's the same thing the Longhorns and Sooners said in a joint statement to the public today. You can view that below:
From that statement, we can gather that Oklahoma and Texas plan to remain in the league through the 2025 contract. That's good news for schools like Oklahoma State and Baylor; the remaining members have time to figure out a plan. That can be adding the best options, like Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, UCF, Memphis, SMU, Boise State or someone else. It could also mean reaching out to every other autonomy conference, or even talking to The American about merging the best schools to reach 16. Anything is possible at this point.
Then again, the Longhorns and Sooners might not like the "rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape" in 2022 and decide it's time to bolt then.
What do you think is going to happen? Let us know in the comments below.