What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, let’s stop with the whole moving the WCWS debate and let’s plot out some college football trips now that we know some game times.
Keep Softball in OKC
Our Bryan Clinton and the team are covering the Women’s College World Series for the next several days. The Big 12 has three teams there — Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas — along with Arizona, a future Big 12 team.
Leading up to the start of the WCWS the inevitable question was asked — should the tournament be moved or, at the least, rotated to a different location.
Texas coach Mike White, of course, had an opinion.
“I’d love to see it rotate eventually, but probably not in my tenure as a coach,” he said to the Austin American-Statesman. “We get it, but it is a huge advantage obviously for Oklahoma.”
OU coach Patto Gasso, when asked the same question, asked a prescient question in return.
Her point was that Oklahoma City has invested in the tournament. Not only does it host the WCWS, it also hosts the Big 12 Tournament. Is that close to both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State? Sure. But the same argument comes up in March when Kansas City hosts the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
Frankly, you could make a better argument for moving the Big 12 basketball tournaments than moving the WCWS.
OKC isn’t just the epicenter for college softball. It’s the epicenter for the entire sport. I’ve never been to OKC for softball but I’ve known that for decades. Why? When I was in Little League waaaay back when my coaches played softball at an elite level. Their national championships were in OKC.
These days, Devon Park is home to the aforementioned events, along with U.S. Olympic trials for the national team and a professional team, the Oklahoma City Spark.
These folks invested in a sport that most treated as an afterthought at the college level until about four or five years ago. But this tournament has always drawn crowds. It’s always done a first-class job (I hear that from Bryan a lot) and no city has put more into this sport than OKC.
And, for those like White, who are playing the “OU homefield advantage card,” well consider this. The WCWS has been in OKC since 1990 (except for 1996, when it was in Columbus, Ga., as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics). In that 35-year span, OU has won seven titles — with five coming since 2016.
That’s a pretty lousy homefield advantage over a 35-year period, if you ask me. Especially when in the same time frame Arizona has won eight titles and UCLA has won seven.
This tournament should stay in OKC. Like Kansas City for the Big 12 basketball tournaments, it’s the perfect fit. The NCAA knows it — that’s why the WCWS is contracted to stay there through 2034.
Occasionally, the NCAA does smart things. I know, it’s melting your brain. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut.
Football Game Times
Everyone is excited about EA College Football 25. I’m excited about Big 12 football game times.
On Thursday we got the game times for the first three weeks and some additional games. Most of the first three weeks are non-conference games. But, still, if you like to go to games like I do, it’s worth checking out the game times.
What did I notice?
A nice set-up for some work out west if you want it opening weekend. Colorado (vs. North Dakota State) and Utah (vs. Southern Utah) both at home on Thursday, Aug. 29. Then, you can go to Palo Alto for TCU at Stanford the next day (Stanford is a nice venue and the weather should be great). Or, head to Provo to see BYU host Southern Illinois.
If you like the heartland, well Kansas hosts Lindenwood on Thursday and from there you can head to either Kansas State (vs. UT Martin) or Iowa State (vs. North Dakota) that Saturday.
Lots of good options that first week.
BYU helped me out in Week 2 with a trip to SMU on a Friday night, though I can’t say it will be well-attended (there’s this little thing called high school football that tends to do well that night). But it’s a great jumping off point for me to hit Arkansas at Oklahoma State (I don’t approve of that 11 a.m. game time, though) or TCU (hosting Long Island) the next day.
The best standalone game? Iowa State at Iowa? I’ve got to hit that at some point. Texas Tech going to Washington State should interesting, too.
Week Three? Hey, Arizona State is headed to San Marcos to face Texas State on a Thursday. Love it. Love it when power conference schools hit a Group of 5 school (Oklahoma State does that quite a bit). Plus, I can get there in about four hours.
That Friday in Kansas you have to choose — UNLV at Kansas or Arizona at Kansas State. Remember — KU isn’t at “home” this year.
Saturday it’s Backyard Brawl time with West Virginia at Pittsburgh. In fact, there are some good local flavor games that day. Utah goes to Utah State, Rice is at Houston and Colorado goes to Colorado State. Plus, UCF and TCU kick off the Big 12 slate in Fort Worth.
As for the rest of the games selected, TCU hosting Houston on a Friday night on Oct. 4 probably is not going to draw what you hope.
But that Oklahoma State-Colorado game on Nov. 29 could be a lot of fun. Snow, perhaps?
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
