Thumbs down on OU-BYU
Sorry, but I can’t endorse OU’s decision to play Brigham Young at Jerry’s World in Arlington, Texas, next September.
OU-Texas in the Cotton Bowl? That’s 80 years of tradition. But two OU games in Greater Dallas? Can’t go along.
All the critics who say moving football games to off-campus sites hurts the local economy have a point. I think the grandeur of OU-Texas makes it worthy to take a home game out of Norman every other year.
But now the Sooners are going off-campus twice? OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said this game would not have happened if it wasn’t neutral site. But why not? Why couldn’t OU and BYU play home-and-home? Play in Provo, Utah, in 2009, then in Norman in 2011 or thereabouts.
I suppose another game like this could enhance Dallas recruiting, but I don’t see how OU’s Dallas recruiting could be much higher profile. Since the formation of the Big 12, the Sooners’ status in Dallas has soared. Both the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram have covered the Sooners on a regular basis. Bob Stoops is generally lauded, not hooted, by Dallas media.
Now, I think OU-BYU will be a great trip for fans, and I think Jerry’s World will be mostly filled with Sooner fans.
And I applaud Castiglione for using the 12th game to line up a legitimate opponent. OU’s slate of Miami, Tulsa and Brigham Young is impressive in this day and age.
But the trend to take games off campus, culminating in two neutral-site games 200 miles south of Norman, is a little troubling considering all the money that has been put into OU’s stadium and how a game day boosts not just the Oklahoma economy but the campus energy as well.
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