The OSU students speak: Reaction to Texas A&M leaving Big 12

I spent much of the afternoon on the OSU campus, chatting with students about Texas A&M’s announcement that it plans to leave the Big 12.

I got a wide range of answers. About the Aggies. About the future of the Big 12. About what this all means for OSU and what the school should do from here. About keeping the Bedlam rivalry intact.

And then there were some folks who had no idea what I was talking about. Hey, it’s a big university. Not everyone is going to care about football. Unfathomable to our kind, I know.

Here’s a sample of the answers I got:

Reaction to Texas A&M officially announcing it intends to leave the Big 12

“I’m kind of glad. (Texas A&M) needed to decide one way or another. I know there’s lots of movement amongst the conferences, so if they want to go elsewhere, I can’t necessarily blame them. But they kind of needed to pick one way or the other.”
–Aaron Krejci, senior

“I don’t really know what to think. It’s going to be sad to see Texas A&M go. I think they’re going to have a lot tougher schedule in the SEC. I’m kind of wondering why they’re doing it, just because they’re going to go from one of the top schools in the Big 12 to one of the lowest ones in the SEC, because they have Auburn, Alabama, Florida. All those schools are going to have so much bigger of the advantage. I guess they’re just looking for money. I think with the Longhorn Network, that’s one of the big reasons they’re moving, too. I think they’re some bad blood (between Texas and Texas A&M).”
–Matthew Roche, senior

“It’s been all over Twitter and stuff for a long time. Everybody’s known it’s coming.”
–Cade Colburn, junior    

On what this means for the Big 12 conference

“It’s probably not good for the Big 12, because the more teams that leave, the conference is probably going to fall apart. Other teams might be convinced to leave, and the big schools might want to go to bigger conferences to compete. This probably means the downfall of the Big 12.”
–Aaron Krejci, senior

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the Big 12 now. Probably going to end up disbanding, I’d think.”
–Matthew Roche, senior

“I don’t know if (the Big 12 is) going to start falling out, or if we’re going to stay strong and just be like ‘Oh well, see you later,’ (to Texas A&M).”
–Courtney Evans, sophomore

“Someone said the Big 12’s going to be around as long as Oklahoma and Texas want it to be, so I don’t really think it’s going to hurt us that badly. I think A&M’s more hurting themselves going to the SEC.”
–Cade Colburn, junior