Another OU game in Dallas? Say it ain’t so

Brigham Young coach Bronco Mendenhall told the Salt Lake Tribune that the Cougars might play a 2009 game at JerryWorld, the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium in Arlington, Texas, and OU is a possible opponent.

I say no way. At least, no way should the Sooners consider it. At some point, E.Z. Million becomes right.

OU already plays a game year in the Metroplex, and the OU-Texas tradition of a Cotton Bowl clash during the State Fair of Texas is a regal stop on the college football circuit. One of the games that make the sport so heritage-rich.

But two neutral-site games in Dallas-Fort Worth? There’s no justification for that. Play two games in Dallas, and the questions should start mounting from fans and administrators and fund-raisers. Just exactly why did you rebuild the football stadium into a palace if you’re going to regularly take games not just to Dallas, but to the middle of a giant parking lot down the road from Six Flags?

If the Sooners can afford to play BYU in Dallas and stage just six home games in 2009, forget Dallas and play BYU home-and-home. Go to BYU and let the Cougars come to Norman in a near season.

Scheduling has become a nightmare for OU. It’s hard to find teams willing to play the Sooners, even on a home-and-home basis. Many schools, most schools, are scheduling to reach a bowl or the BCS. Which means automatic victories. And those willing to come to OU for a paycheck are demanding exorbitant amounts.

So here’s a team, BYU, perhaps willing to play the Sooners. So play. Yes, OU already has a tough non-conference foe for 2009 in Miami. Yes, OU is going to Miami, and two non-conference road games would be unheard of among today’s college football heavyweights.

But college football scheduling has reached the critical stage. September is creeping closer and closer to irrelevancy, creeping closer and closer to NFL exhibition status.