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The courtship of the Big 12 conference

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The Big 12’s expansion game has become a silly rendition of the Bachelor.

No not the one that is my 84-year-old mom’s favorite show, where some young lady dates a flock of young bucks who profess the charade of love over a two-week span and promise forever commitment.

No , not that one. This Bachelor show is the Big 12 conference being courted by 17 (yes, you have that number right) universities who want to fill one of the expansion slots (how many? two or four?) the conference has floated as a consideration necessary to maintain its existence in this competitive and complicated big time college football landscape.

This is ridiculous, yes. Of course it is. There aren’t probably more than two schools out of that group — which ranges from Arkansas State (Lord save us) to BYU (Lord prefers) and a lot of anemic mid-major programs — that have any business being in a Power 5 conference, which at last look included the Big 12 (thanks to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas).

But, if we have to expand the league then here goes. My two cents on who to let in:

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My New Orleans Cab Driver

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(April 9, 2016) It was a little past 6 a.m. this morning and I was on the way to the New Orleans airport. Leaving that city on a Saturday morning when a whole weekend could be played there might not make much sense. But, I had a game to go to back home. That’s what I told the cab driver, L.C., from the back seat of his Suburban as we pulled onto I-10 from the French Quarter.

One of your kids’ games? He asked. Nope, I said. College game. Spring game. I’m a big fan, I said.

L.C. told me that his father was too. His dad was the biggest college football fan ever, he said. When he died, he left L.C. the house and to take care of his mom. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. And it was left in ruin. The family had to move to Houston for months. His brother and family went to Birmingham, Alabama. L.C. returned to Louisiana, but his brother stayed in Alabama; said the kids were doing well in school there.

I told L.C. I used to call my dad after every game. And talk. We were passing by Metairie Cemetery when I said that. L.C. said, me too…man I miss him.

He loved his college team, L.C. said. And you know, it wasn’t LSU or any team around New Orleans. It was “Oklahoma,” L.C. said.

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Bedlam begins 3-game playoff for the Sooners, worry meter spiking

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If you ever needed a reminder of how important a good quarterback is to a football team, the 2nd half of the TCU game was it. (By the way, a big thank you for going for two coach Patterson. You saved our bacon).

Look, I really like Trevor Knight. From all accounts he is a great guy and a team leader. Heck, he was elected a team captain and he doesn’t even start.

But how is it he can be so ineffective after being on this team for three years? I mean he still throws balls in the dirt. He was unable to move the offense against the Horned Frogs and if not for a long touchdown run by Perine, the Sooners lose that game. Lincoln Riley might have some blame in this as he himself said he got too conservative and didn’t let Knight run the offense like he should have.

But it’s mostly that Knight, for whatever reason, is just not a good quarterback. He had one amazing game in the Sugar Bowl and for that Sooner fans should be very grateful. But if Mayfield is out, the Sooners are in trouble.

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