Officials for Oklahoma and Texas did not attend a Big 12 meeting Thursday to discuss the schools' reported interest in leaving the conference for the SEC, according to reports from Yahoo's Pete Thamel and Stadium's Brett McMurphy.
Multiple sources have indicated to @YahooSports that Oklahoma and Texas are not expected to take part in the Big 12 call this evening. As we reported earlier, it’s a call to discuss the future and contingencies. https://t.co/KCJva783Vt
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 22, 2021
Oklahoma and Texas officials are not currently on the Big 12 call w/league ADs & CEO’s, sources told @Stadium. Perhaps another sign, OU & Texas have decided to leave for SEC
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 22, 2021
CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd first reported that the meeting would take place at 5 p.m. Thursday and would feature athletic directors and CEOs from each Big 12 school.
Reports of the Sooners and Longhorns reaching out to the SEC about potentially joining the conference surfaced Wednesday, and the Houston Chronicle's Brent Zwerneman was the first to do so. Through a university spokesperson, OU released the following statement on the matter on Wednesday: “The college athletics landscape is shifting constantly. We don't address every anonymous rumor."
Similarly, Texas released the following through a spokesperson roughly an hour before Oklahoma's: "Speculation swirls around collegiate athletics. We will not address rumors or speculation."
Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley, whose team has won the last six Big 12 championships and 14 overall, said the program has "a lot of respect" for the conference at Big 12 Media Days on July 14.
"It takes so much (to win in the Big 12)," Riley said. "Everybody's a good coach, everybody has good players. Each year is so different, each game is so different. We're excited about some of the success we’ve had, but we know that’s not going to make a lot of difference in this coming year.”
On May 27, after the Big 12 announced Oklahoma's Sept. 4 matchup against former Big 12 rival Nebraska would be held at 11 a.m., OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione released a statement saying he was “bitterly disappointed” that the game couldn’t be played at a later time.
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby addressed Castiglione’s comments at Big 12 Media Days.
“Well, 11 a.m. is an inconvenience for some fans,” Bowlsby said. “I think Joe's position on it was it was a marquee game and he would have liked to have seen it played in prime time.
“He's entitled to that position, and we talked about it extensively in the time before he made his comments. Having said that, we all signed the TV contract, and we can change it the next time around if we want to change it, but we are going to live by our stipulations on the television agreements and that's what we did on this occasion.”
Oklahoma opens its 2021 season at 11 a.m. on Sept. 4 in New Orleans at Tulane.
