Moves by Texas, Oklahoma from Big 12 to SEC bumped to 2024

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas and Oklahoma are heading to the Southeastern Conference in 2024, a year earlier than originally planned, after Big 12 officials cleared the way Thursday for the storied programs to exit their league.

Texas and Oklahoma will leave behind the $50 million each school would have received over the next two seasons under the Big 12’s media contracts.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormak said the league would only agree to an early departure “if it was in our best interest.”

“By reaching this agreement, we are now able to accelerate our new beginning as a 12-team league and move forward in earnest with our initiatives and future planning,” Yormak said in a statement announcing the agreement.

BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston are joining the Big 12 prior to the 2023 football season, giving the league a temporary membership of 14 schools.

The agreement must still be approved the Texas and Oklahoma boards of regents, but that is considered a formality.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement that the schools will become full members of the conference on July 1, 2024.

“We are continuing our preparation for this membership transition, and we look forward to welcoming the conference’s new members and moving into our future as a 16-team league,” Sankey said.

The moves by Texas and Oklahoma have been in the works since 2021, when the SEC invited the Big 12’s marquee programs to join what is already the strongest football conference in the country.

Oklahoma and Texas have combined for 10 national championships as determined by The Associated Press, but none since the Longhorns’ 2005 season championship. TCU, which made it the College Football Playoff championship game last season, joined Oklahoma as the only Big 12 teams to make the playoff.

Big 12 officials were initially stunned by the departure. Former Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby even accused ESPN of trying to “destabilize” the league to help Texas and Oklahoma leave early.

Thursday’s announcement was much more cordial. Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec, who is also the chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors, called the agreement “fair to all parties,” and said it could not have happened without collaboration with the league’s broadcast partners ESPN and Fox.

Money has been a driving factor in the shifting landscape of college athletics realignment. The SEC reported a revenue distribution of $49.9 million per school for the 2021-2022 school year, exceeding by more than $7 million what the Big 12 distributed to its members for the same period.

Adding Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC’s broadcast portfolio is expected to only increase the league’s payout. They will land in their new league just in time for a new $3 billion deal with ESPN that gives the network the broadcast rights to all the conference’s football games.

The additions of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will boost the Big 12’s national footprint and push the league into new media markets.

Texas and Oklahoma haven’t already left for the SEC because both schools have been tied to the Big 12 and its other members through a grant of media rights through the 2024-25 school year. That deal ran concurrently with the conference’s television contracts with Fox and ESPN.

“We have always been committed to fulfilling our contractual obligations to the Big 12. The collegiate athletics landscape has continued to evolve rapidly, and working together to accelerate our exit produced benefits for all parties,” Texas President Jay Hartzell said. “The Big 12 has been a respected partner for nearly three decades, and we look forward to a final season of spirited competition with our friends and rivals.”

No. 12 Washington holds off No. 21 Texas 27-20 in Alamo Bowl

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports
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SAN ANTONIO – Michael Penix, Jr. threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and No. 12 Washington held off No. 21 Texas 27-20 on Thursday night in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Texas scored 10 late points, pulling within seven on Bert Auburn’s 26-yard field goal with 1:40 remaining, then failed on an onside kick try. The Longhorns (8-5) stopped the Huskies (11-2) on the ensuing possession and took over on their own 16 with 32 seconds and got to the Washington 40 on the final play of the game.

“Another big night for the ’22 Huskies,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said. “It starts with these guys up here (Penix, Wayne Taulapapa, Bralen Trice). They all played huge huge roles in what happened tonight. It was a culmination of everything we’ve worked on. The things we’ve tried to improve, especially in the latter half of the season.”

Penix finished the season with 4,641 yards passing to break the 20-year-old Washington season mark of 4,458 set by Cody Pickett.

And while Washington relied heavily on the pass game, its had success on the ground with 158 yards, including a 46-yard option TD run by Wayne Taulapapa in the first quarter.

“We were just trying to feel out the game, feel out how the adjusted and reacted to our pass option,” Penix said. “I was like, `OK, I’m going to hand off this time and see how they adjust to it. I knew handing it off to Wayne, we had a good box, and he’ll make anything happen.”

Penix led back-to-back scoring drives of 75 and 90 yards in the second half to stretch the Huskies’ lead to 17. He was 32 of 55, completed passes to eight receivers, and connected with Taj Davis and Jalen McMillan for scores.

“They did a nice job of extending drives,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They had three straight drives of 16, 13 and 14 plays that resulted in 17 points. But in the end I was proud of our guys. They continued to battle; gave us a chance at the end. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

Texas was without star running back Bijon Robinson, and rushed for just 51 yards. Robinson, who led the Longhorns with 1,580 yards and 18 TDs, skipped the game to prepare for the NFL draft.

Sarkisian said the game plan was to throw the ball extensively.

Texas had cut a 10-point halftime deficit to 13-10 on 34-yard pass play from Quinn Ewers to Jonathon Brooks on the opening possession of the second half. Ewers was 31 of 47 for 369 yards.

“After that first drive (of the second half), we got rolling,” Ewers said. “It’s always good to get that first touchdown. It’s awesome to have that first drive to score coming out of the locker room. And with our offense, once we get going it’s hard to stop us.”

Washington, which lost out on tiebreakers for a spot in the Pac-12 championship game after a 7-2 league mark, finished on a seven-game winning streak with its second straight bowl victory.

Texas was in its first bowl game under second-year coach Sarkisian.

OPTING OUT

In addition to Robinson, Texas senior running back Roschon Johnson and senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown opted out to prepare for the NFL draft. No Washington players opted out.

REDEMPTION AT THE ALAMO

The Huskies are 1-1 in the Alamo Bowl. In 2011, Washington – coached by current Texas coach Sarkisian – lost to Baylor 67-56 in the highest-scoring edition of the game.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Texas, which traveled 90 miles from Austin, saw its winning streak in San Antonio come to an end. The Longhorns, playing in their third Alamo Bowl in the last four years, beat Colorado 55-23 in 2020 and Utah 38-10 in 2019.

All-American RB Bijan Robinson leaving Texas for NFL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: OCT 01 West Virginia at Texas
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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas running back Bijan Robinson is skipping his final two seasons of eligibility to enter the NFL draft and won’t play in the Alamo Bowl.

Robinson earned All-America honors after rushing for 1,580 yards with 18 touchdowns as the Longhorns (8-4) finished third in the Big 12. No. 21 Texas plays 12th-ranked Washington in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.

Robinson played three years but had two seasons of eligibility remaining because his freshman year was the COVID-19-altered 2020 season. The NCAA granted all players another year of eligibility.

“I’ve done everything that I tried to do in God’s plan for me while I’ve been here,” Robinson said at a news conference announcing the decision Monday. “It’s time to start the new journey. I’m just excited to figure out another part of my life, just like I tried to figure it out here.”

Highly recruited out of Arizona, Robinson is fourth on Texas’ career rushing list with 3,410 yards rushing. He trails two Heisman Trophy winners in career school rushing leader Ricky Williams and Earl Campbell, who is third.

All three of the Texas running backs ahead of Robinson on the career list were top-five picks in the draft. Williams went fifth overall to New Orleans in 1999, Cedric Benson was taken fourth by Chicago in 2005 and Campbell was the No. 1 overall choice by Houston in 1978.