Yes
Because they know they are stuck in a dumpster fire of a conference with no way out anytime soon. Their state legislature would not allow them to change conferences without their little brother OSU. The PAC-12 said "thanks but no thanks".
The media is consistently ranking their conference as the lowest of the big 5 and they are stuck there for at least another 10yrs. TX and the LHN have basically made a BDF network a non-starter so their conference as a whole will fall far behind other conferences in media revenue over that time. Meanwhile, A&M and other SEC teams have also taken control of their primary recruiting grounds.
Their near term future is bleak at best. Their lack of a conference championship game means only an undefeated BDF champion has any real shot at a playoff selection while also guaranteeing one team at most will be selected.
They are a proud program with a rich history of winning, much like us. But unlike we were in 2008, they can see their future and they don't like it.
Awesome this post was so full of things that made me giggle. Like, you think OU fans are arrogant, and that the arrogance is related to an inferiority complex with their conference. That statement of yours belies your misplaced conference arrogance and is so far off base I find it difficult to know where to begin. Most OU fans dont like some of the things about the big 12, such as no conf. championship game. I prefer one, but I also understand why its not possible with 10 teams, and why the round robin format gives the big 12 conference champion a leg up in terms of qualifying for the playoff. Not sure where you got this made up idea that big 12 is the weakest of the power 5, but that is also not accurate, as the big 12 has historically been the top 1 or 2 and maybe 3 on any list of anyone in the actual know. Now with some teams in the pac 12 and big 10 playing exceptionally well the past few years, and with texas being down, it gives the perception that the big 12 cant hang. But didnt the big 12 #2 team beat the premier sec program? didnt another ex big 12 team beat them too (a&M)? didnt a former big 12 team play in the sec championship? It's far from a scrub conference and OU fans simply dont care about the conference smack talk. I wouldnt be yapping much either since the sec was this close to the top 3 being 0-3 in bowl season.
I thought about this long and hard, for the longest time when the 4 teams left the big 12 it was thought that it would dissapate and the teams would go their merry way. for some reason the ADs wanted to save it, texas didnt want to go and neither the sec nor the pac said they'd accept osu along with OU (mistake IMO as osu can compete). So here we are. Now, you may say they are 'stuck' but stuck is relative. From a fan's stanpoint, it kinda sucks, we want to be the big bad conference right? But consider a few things. from a $$$ standpoint, because there are 10 as opposed to 12 (or 14) schools, the 10 way cut is larger per school than a 12 or 14 way share is. Of course these numbers matter mostly to the universities themselves, why should fans care , do we get to see any of this cash?. so, again, if we are stuck here,even if it were the case, why would an OU fan care if OU makes a million bucks a year less than an sec school? But to quote real actual numbers, to compare to sec. Avg sec haul last year was right at 20 million per school. OU pulled in 23 million. Income estimated go jump to 26million+ next season, per school. They arent going broke down there.
On to something more significant- the scheduling. being a 10 team league, we have a 9 team round robin meaning every team plays every team. some call that having a 'true' champion. whereas in a 14 team league, every team most certainly does not play every other team, so while there is a champ. game there is not a if you will, 'true champion'. therefore the 'true champion' will not have to risk a loss of place in the ranking due to playing in a conf championship game. I kind of like the idea of playing every team in conference, it leaves no questions unanswered. Plus, 14 team leagues right now have a 8 game league schedule vs a 9 game league schedule, and with the strength of schedules being so important, that one game against a patsy cake OOC team instead of a SEC team has real potential to be a limiting factor when the committee is splitting hairs to determine who makes the cut.
As far as recruiting, OU has never had, and never will have trouble recruiting with Stoops.IF im correct, Stoops has never had a class rated under #15 nationally.
Near term future is looking extremely bright, hence the reason why they signed a long term and very lucrative contract. Do we need 2 teams in the playoff? nope, it can happen though, as the conference has had many times 2 teams finish in the top 5.. it'll be possible to have 2 in the same conf. make it , but that largely depends on the champion from each league to not be undefeated or at least have the same record. OU's future is also extremely bright, having raked in a great recruiting class, returning almost every starter on a young team who went 11-2. I dont frankly see why you think OU has a bleak future, but hey, it's the internet, it's not the craziest thing I've read today!
