Jenni Carlson :Long Time Big 12 Insider

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This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Here I am focused on football. That was the cheap trick. And Colton, who is behind the double pane glass, throws in one of our Star Wars opens. And now I just want to watch Star Wars.

No, no. Back to football, back to football. Two of my loves, Star Wars and football. Wait until I tell you what my husband surprised me with for our seven month anniversary.

Hint, hint, Star Wars. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Thanks for all of your tweets and your Facebook messages. A lot of you still weighing in. I know you miss Jay. I'm sorry Jay decided to leave. But we'll find another producer and we'll get comfortable and find a new rhythm before we get to football season. That is the goal.

Phone numbers 855-212-4227 at ALawRadio or After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Facebook. Now, in addition to the run up to the Olympics and the start of NFL training camp, obviously we talked about Kaitlyn Clark and her record night with 19 assists. We've been talking about baseball, the all-star affairs, what we've got coming up, which is the trade deadline.

There's a lot going on. Golf, the open championship underway. Tennis, just wrapping up at Wimbledon this past weekend. In the middle of all of this, of course, we're getting set for college football. Last week in Las Vegas, Big 12 media days. This week in Dallas, four days to get set for the SEC college football season. And I am pleased to welcome my longtime friend, but also longtime Big 12 and Oklahoma football insider, Jenny Carlson, who has beyond the box score with Jenny Carlson on Substack.

Also has a YouTube channel. You can find her on Twitter at Jenny Carlson underscore OK. Joining us from Dallas, where the SEC is still going on.

So Jenny, what's it been like? You're covering SEC media days on the heels of the Big 12. What is the atmosphere like in Dallas? I've only ever been to Big 12 media days before, which is a big event. It's not it's not small potatoes, but just the sheer number of media and the space that this event takes up at the Dallas Omni this year. And there's just I think it's something like 15 or 1600 media credentials for this event.

I don't think they're all. Yeah, I don't think they're all there at the same time. We've had some that have come in and come out, you know, just for a specific team that they cover, but that's a lot of people and, you know, big, big area for Radio Row, big room for sort of the main interviews. And then obviously there's a big stage set up in the main room.

So, yeah, just the whole like the footprint of the whole thing is really big. And yeah, it's been really interesting to sort of see just the inner workings and the how how the SEC does it. And I think a lot of the events is really for the TV partners, but that doesn't mean there's not been some opportunities to, you know, hear from coaches, talk to players, see some administrators, those sorts of things. So it's definitely been been an eye opening thing to be in Las Vegas a week ago for Big 12 Media Days now in Dallas for SEC Media Days.

And the feeling and the setup is really totally different with the two. It sounds a lot like a Super Bowl Radio Row. Yep.

Yeah. The Radio Row is by far the biggest area. There are literally I'm going to guess 50, 75.

I don't know. It's a ton of radio stations that are just lining up this whole area. And the weird thing is, is that unlike Big 12 Media Days, I don't know how it is for Big 10 or or ACC or whatever. But at Big 12 Media Day, you know, they've got Radio Row and the players and the coaches are kind of out and they will sit down and get grabbed and hey, come and join us for five minutes, coach or whatever. SEC Radio Row, the coaches and the players don't pass through there. So they don't really get any interviews out there.

A lot of it is just people doing the radio shows, maybe running audio from other interviews. But there are just tons of people there. I think the thing is, the connection that the fans have, the media really reflects that. And just, you know, the passion there.

And so then I think you see the media showing that, you know, reflecting that with the coverage that they're doing in this event. The SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey held court on the first day of Media Days. What stands out from what he had to say about the expanded conference now at 16 teams?

He talked a lot about how, you know, they really feel good at 16. And he deflected several questions during his Q&A part of his presentation about potential future expansion. You know, I don't think that the SEC is necessarily actively out talking to schools right now about coming and joining the SEC. But everybody knows that there's ongoing litigation involving the SEC, Florida State, those types of things if Florida State and say Clemson work to somehow come available. I don't think the SEC is saying absolutely not the future expansion. So I think they really like where they are with the 16 teams they have now. They didn't just add two schools. They added two of the biggest brands in all of college football in Oklahoma and Texas. Two Blue Bloods, two long standing powerhouse programs.

So the fact that they were able to add such quality to their already very quality lineup, I think just speaks to the strength that they feel like they have. But, you know, in today's day and age, I don't think anybody is ever totally set. I think everybody has to be on the lookout for what else might be happening. And so to me, if Florida State and Clemson come open, I don't necessarily feel like Greg Sankey or the SEC says absolutely not. I think they're going to have those conversations. We're so excited to have Jenny Carlson back on the show, sports columnist and longtime insider for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State football for the Big 12. Now having to spend some time focusing on the SEC with this transition.

She's got beyond the box score with Jenny Carlson on sub stack and it's after hours with Amy Lawrence. So, Jenny, how do Texas and Oklahoma fit in the SEC so far? Something I mentioned earlier, the passion of the fans. I think that's where culturally I think these two schools and then by extension football programs really make a lot of sense in the SEC. I heard somebody say at one point, you know, when SEC football teams lose, it affects the mood of their fans for days. When they win, it affects the mood of their fans for days. And that's very familiar territory for Sooners and Longhorns. When they win, it's great.

When they lose, it's the worst thing in the world. So I think that culturally makes a lot of sense for Oklahoma and Texas. Obviously, how they fare on the football field, you know, the history, the tradition for both of these programs, I think stands up when you look around the SEC. Obviously, the recent history of the SEC, especially with Alabama and Georgia, is otherworldly.

I mean, it's to a different level. So nobody anywhere stacks up to what they have done in recent years. But as you look historically, Oklahoma and Texas look very similar to a lot of the teams around the SEC.

And then how do they fit right now? You know, I think Texas will enter the SEC in a much better place to compete and contend right away. They return, you know, a bunch of the team that they had a year ago when they went 12 and 2, won the Big 12, went to the college football playoff.

So when you've got that kind of recipe, I think that bodes really well for Texas. Oklahoma, while not as bad a place as they were when Lincoln Riley left them for Southern Cal a few years ago, they definitely still have several question marks and probably the biggest question mark on the line of scrimmage. You know, they they they lost some guys on their offensive line. It's going to be largely rebuilt with either guys that are inexperienced and have been in their program or guys that they brought in is a transfer portal. So how they perform as an offensive line remains to be seen. And then their defensive line, while it has some talent, it's pretty young. So you're taking, you know, two kind of question mark lines into the SEC conference that if you spent any time at the Dallas Omni this week, you're likely to have seen some very large humans. And those who are offensive and defensive linemen had a chance today to be around some of the Alabama players.

And Tyler Moore is one of their offensive linemen who was there today. He's definitely one of the largest human beings I've ever been around. Probably one of the biggest five human beings I've ever been around. Guys, six, five, three fifty two is how he's listed probably in the off season. He runs a little heavier than that even.

I mean, just just a super sized human being. But that's the type of lineman you find around the SEC. So Oklahoma, how do they match up?

That is still very much unknown at this point. It might be great, but at this point you just have to feel like for the immediate future how these two programs fit in. Texas seems much more ready to go. You know, plug and play be in the in the mix for conference championship. Oklahoma might be there, but it's going to have to require them answering some of those questions in the affirmative. Well, it's sort of funny to hear Nick Saban throwing a bit of shade on Coach Stark, who of course coached under him.

So they know each other well. But this idea that Nick Saban was scoffing at the Texas was just going to come in and be a dominant team or come in and challenge for the conference championship right away. It is kind of funny to think about these two teams joining a conference that has had so many championships and championship opportunities over the last couple of decades. I think Saban was right in that Texas and Oklahoma have largely been lockstep towards the top of the league, you know, not maybe every year, but you know, there are programs that other teams in the Big 12 knew they were going to have to contend with. And because of how good they were on the football field, that really translated into how they ran in a lot of ways, what happened in the conference as far as from a leadership perspective, a boardroom perspective, if you will. So from that standpoint, especially even if Oklahoma and Texas come in and, you know, become, you know, high level championship competitors in the SEC right away, everybody else in the SEC is going to be like, we've got our own national championships. Like we see you, but we do this too.

So it's not like they come in and can suddenly like separate themselves from the pack. So that will take some adjusting for the Longhorns everywhere. But Nick Saban in the days since he said what he did about how they won't maybe come in and run the league. He's also made his pick for the SEC championship game.

And that was Georgia and Texas. So he picks against his team that he led the school where he still has an office. He still has a position as an advisor for the athletic department. He does not pick Bama said there were just some questions in the secondary. And I think that speaks sort of going back to the fact that Texas doesn't have as many question marks. So while he, while they may not run the conference, I think he even recognizes that they're probably going to be pretty competitive in the conference this next season.

How much talk is there still about Arch Manning, who presumably would be number two on the depth chart this season? You know, it's funny. I actually made a comment today to some of my cohorts after Steve Starkeesian had his press conference in the main media room, which is the big interview ballroom that a lot of people are set up in. He makes his opening statement long. You know, it talks about last year, talks about this year, talks about the move, all these sorts of things.

Take several minutes and then questions begin. The very first person that gets called on the very first question is about Arch Manning. You know, they've got Quinn Ewers who could potentially be a Heisman candidate. They've got, you know, several players that are probably, you know, high draft picks an NFL draft next year.

They've got a team that could contend for a championship playoff spot, blah, blah, blah, blah. First question is about the second straight quarterback. So it was really kind of illuminating, but clearly people are fascinated by him. Quinn Ewers is, you know, talented. He had a had his best season last year for the Longhorns, but before that, he had had kind of been up and down career a couple of years ago. They went to Stillwater and I saw him in that game against Oklahoma State.

He was really, really inconsistent, just not seeming comfortable at all. The last year was a big step forward for him. It doesn't mean he won every game, but he he was really good for them a year ago, but they need to have him take again another step forward because they're bringing in some new receivers. You know, they seem to always have running back things to fall out of trees in Austin. So I assume they're going to have a good running game. But, you know, you want that that quarterback play to continue to evolve. So I can't imagine there are many questions about Quinn Ewers job security. You know, if he would have injury, he has had injuries in the past or he would, you know, maybe see some struggles. What happens then?

How does that play out? You know, a few years ago, we thought Oklahoma Spencer Rattler got to got drafted this last year after he moved on to South Carolina. The fans got up in arms. They didn't think he was playing well enough. They wanted Caleb Williams.

They even got to the point they booed Spencer Rattler at home. I mean, just some crazy things that happened, but Caleb Williams came in. He obviously was the number one pick in the NFL draft.

Not to say that Arch Manning might not be a better quarterback than the guy he's backing up. But at least for now, I think it's pretty sure that Quinn Ewers is the guy that takes the majority of the snaps for Texas this year. Jenny Carlson is with us from Dallas. SEC Media Days. More like a big circus taking over for four days to get ready for the upcoming season. But a lot of excitement and certainly anticipation to see how the 16 work out.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. You were also in Vegas. Hot, hot, hot Las Vegas for Big 12 Media Days. So where does the departure of OU and Texas leave the Big 12? You know, obviously they lose two, as I said before, gigantic brands in the world of college football.

The Blue Bloods, you don't lose two programs like that. I mean, there's obviously a hole you can't even though they brought in four new teams with the four corner school come out of the Pac 12. There's still a void that is left by OU and Texas leaving. But I think the thing that's interesting to think about is three years ago when Oklahoma and Texas news that they were looking to leave the Big 12 and go to the SEC, when that news broke three summers ago, the expectation was the Big 12 would cease to exist.

It was just going to dissipate, blow apart, teams were going to end up elsewhere and the league was just not going to survive. Three years later, it's 16 teams strong. They pulled in four schools from another power conference in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. Them getting Colorado to come over to the Big 12 to decide to leave the Pac 12, while it wasn't the first domino that was really Southern Cal and UCLA decided to go to the Big 10, that move, taking Colorado out of the mix, really started the dominoes falling. I mean, it wasn't long before the Pac 12 was totally left with just Oregon State and Washington State. So the fact that the Big 12 got to the point where they were pulling other teams from power conferences, causing big change in the world of college athletics. Three years ago, nobody thought that was going to be the reality.

Well, obviously, you want as many brands to bring eyeballs as you can, especially in the college football world. They feel good about the four they brought in and they really feel great about the fact that Deion Sanders is the coach of Colorado. Now, I don't know how long he's going to be the coach of Colorado. They started great last year.

Everybody knows really kind of went to put after that. But I know as long as he is, it's good for the Big 12 because he draws eyeballs and attention . And that's one of the things that you lose when you lose you in Texas. They draw eyeballs as long as Deion Sanders is their coach. That is a draw for people. And that's something the Big 12 can pout to TV partners, can pout to potential sponsors, corporations, all that sort of thing.

So they've got a guy in Deion Sanders that I think maybe helps that pain ease a little bit. I still think everybody is chasing the Big 10 and the SEC because of just how much money they have and what they're distributing to their schools. It's just getting bigger and bigger. And the gulf between what they're distributing and what everybody else is distributing, that is also getting bigger until they figure out a way to close that gap and get more money to their school. You know, the Big 10, the SEC are just going to continue to kind of pull away from everybody else it feels like. So that's got to be troublesome to the Big 12. But at the same time, I think when you take a little longer view of what the reality looked like three years ago, I think the Big 12 feels like it's in about as good a spot as they could be. What they thought was going to happen three years ago, losing OU in Texas, that actually came to pass.

So the fact that that happened and they still are existing, they've added teams, I think that that longer view makes them feel pretty good about where they are right now. But Jenny, what is a college football season in the state of Oklahoma without Bedlam? I don't know.

I really don't know. That game gets played last year and we knew it was the last one on the schedule for a while. And you know, it's obviously there's a lot of melancholy and it really hit me at the end of that game. It was a classic game, one at the end, Oklahoma State wins, everybody's going crazy. And all I could think was this is why are we why are we doing away with this? I mean, it was really, really a gut punch in that moment just to know that that rivalry was going away.

So I don't know. I've never I mean, well, heck, nobody alive has ever been around without Oklahoma and Oklahoma State playing a Bedlam football game. So it's been it's been going along, it's been going that long, but nobody knows what a football season looks like without it. So it's going to be weird. I don't quite know how that's going to feel at the end of things. I guess we start to hold out hope that with this expanded college football playoff, maybe Bedlam happens in the playoffs at some point. That would be fantastic, at least from my perspective. I have no idea that the coaches and the player and I think the players would like it. The coaches, I don't know, and that and the administrators might not be all that fired up, but I think it would be fantastic. We've seen that happen some with Texas and Texas A&M. Yes, that rivalry got split for a while. You would see them get matched up in NCAA tournaments and basketball and baseball and softball and those sorts of things. I don't think they played a football game, but, you know, obviously now they're back together.

So who knows? Maybe there's an opportunity with this expanded playoff for those two teams to meet at some point. That's what I'll hold out hope for because, yeah, it's definitely an alternate universe in my mind, not having a Bedlam football game. And there certainly are some pretty incredible games on Norman's soil.

And obviously, Texas has got a loaded schedule, too, but it's, as you talk about, cuts the heart out of the state of Oklahoma in terms of its football and traditions that they look forward to every year. All right. Really good stuff with Jenny on her Twitter. You can find photos and videos called Beyond the Box Score with Jenny Carlson.

It's on Substack, but you can find her on Twitter or Twix or X or whatever you call it at Jenny with an I Carlson underscore. OK, gosh, we've known each other for a long time. It's always a privilege to have you on the show. Thank you so much for your insight. Now, such an honor, Amy.

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