Bully OU-Tulsa & OSU-Tulsa

OU-Tulsa and OSU-Tulsa are football series that should be played regularly. And finally, they are being played regularly. OU’s announcement Friday that it will play the Golden Hurricane in 2013, 2014 and 2015, along with the already-scheduled games in 2009 and 2011, is excellent news on the college football scheduling front.

The OU-TU announcement comes after the 2007 game at Tulsa, and the resumption of OSU-Tulsa, which was an annual series through most of the ’80s and ’90s and resumes with games in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The in-state rivalries are good on every front. First, it’s good for state PR. Why should OSU be playing Houston but not Tulsa? Why OU be playing TCU but not Tulsa? It’s also good for scheduling; the 2-for-1 format — Tulsa gets one home game; OU and OSU each gets two — helps the madcap nature of college football scheduling, in which schools scramble for weak non-conference opponents and pay huge amounts for lesser foes.

Tulsa’s program has improved dramatically over this decade and is a legit foe for OU and OSU. Such scheduling also keeps expenses down for every state team and keeps money in the state.

It’s win, win, win. OU and OSU should play Tulsa every season. But this is a very good start.