Tramel's ScissorTales: SEC expansion might create pods, but beware the WAC fate

Some call them pods. Some call them quads. They in reality are both. Quads in pods. A quad in a pod, if you’re trying to be nursery rhymish. 

A solution to the dilemma of 16-team conferences. A spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. 

OU and Texas are headed to the Southeastern Conference, and four-team pods are the antidote for the unwieldy nature of leagues that span more than half the continent. 

It’s not just the SEC that could be headed for pods. 

The Pac-12 built a pod model 10 years ago when it considering expansion to 16, making a run at Big 12 schools. And some say if the fallout of the OU/Texas migration is Pac-12 expansion, the Pac would adopt a pod system. 

It’s not easy to describe the pod model. 

Former University of Florida president Bernie Machen was president at Utah when the WAC expanded to 16 teams. He had just arrived in Salt Lake City after serving as Michigan’s chancellor. 

"I was fresh out of the Big Ten, and I couldn't understand it," Machen told CBS Sports in 2018. 

But let’s try. 

Four-team pods are created for scheduling purposes. Each team plays its fellow pod members annually, which means three games. In the SEC model, each team plays two opponents annually from each of the other three pods. That’s six games, making nine total. 

The pods, in theory, rotate every two years to create eight-team divisions, whose winners would supply teams for a conference championship game. 

The pods have their advantages. 

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► They help retain natural rivalries.  

For instance, the most-proposed SEC model includes a pod of OU, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; a pod of Texas A&M, Louisiana State, Ole Miss and Mississippi State; a pod of Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and Vanderbilt; and a pod of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky. 

The only natural rivalries unspared in that model are Auburn-Georgia and Texas A&M-Texas, and the latter hasn’t been played anyway since the Aggies’ 2012 departure for the SEC. Texas ended the series a decade ago, but A&M might be happy seeing less of the Longhorns in conference play. 

► They help facilitate more familiarity throughout the conference. 

In a divisional format with a nine-game conference schedule, schools would play interdivision foes only twice every eight years. In a pod format with a nine-game conference schedule, schools play interdivision foes twice every four years. 

Big difference. 

That would be especially important in a Pac-16. A Pac pod system would include the four California schools together (Southern Cal, UCLA, Stanford and Cal-Berkeley); the Pacific Northwest schools together (Oregon State, Washington, Oregon and Washington State); the Mountain Time Zone schools together (Arizona State, Colorado, Arizona and Utah); and a pod of whichever four Big 12 schools would be added. 

The Pac-12's members don’t want to lose the constant connection to California, for recruiting and fundraising purposes. Same as the SEC schools would like to make use of Texas as much as possible, though those ties are not historic in the way of California and the Pac-12. 

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► The pods are a hedge against divisional imbalances. At times in Big 12 and SEC history, one division or another was quite superior to the other. The pods negate that to a certain extent. 

So the pod system all makes sense. But it can be quite complicated to the masses. It’s not easy to market. 

And oh, one more thing. It’s been tried. And it didn’t work. 

The quad pods were an abject failure in the Western Athletic Conference. The late (at least in football), great, wild WAC expanded to 16 teams in 1996 and used the pod system. 

The WAC in 1996 added Tulsa, Rice, Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, Nevada-Las Vegas and San Jose State. They joined Brigham Young, Utah, Colorado State, Air Force, Wyoming, New Mexico, Hawaii, San Diego State, Fresno State and Texas-El Paso. 

That WAC stretched across four times, from Honolulu to Houston. 

Some pods fit great: Tulsa, TCU, SMU and Rice were together; so were Hawaii, San Jose State, San Diego State and Fresno State. 

But BYU and Utah were grouped with New Mexico and UTEP. Colorado, Air Force and Wyoming were given UNLV. 

Tom Brennan, San Jose State’s athletic director from 1990-97, told Rivals.com in 2011 that “the idea of quads was interesting. The intention was to keep rotating the quads, but you don't develop rivalries like you would with set divisions.'' 

The WAC thrived to some degree. In 1996, BYU football went 14-1 and finished No. 5 in the nation. In 1998, Utah made the Final Four. 

But some of the long-time WAC members weren’t happy. In 1998, part of the WAC’s spring-meetings agenda was to set permanent divisions. But it was too late. 

BYU and Utah led a revolt. Eight schools departed the WAC and in 1999 formed the Mountain West Conference. 

"I don't think they really dove in on what the schedule models would look like,” Craig Thompson, who eventually became the Mountain West commissioner, told CBS Sports. 

Over the years, many have expressed doubt about the viability of a 16-team conference, including some distinguished SEC leaders. But now the SEC has taken the plunge, the Atlantic Coast Conference will do the same the second it gets a thumbs-up from Notre Dame, you never know about the Big Ten and it makes sense on some levels for the Pac-12. 

The pod-quad system solves problems. It gets OU football to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, once every four years instead of once every eight years. Gets Georgia to Austin, Texas, once every four years instead of once every eight years. 

But it can be problematic. Just ask the WAC. 

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OSU fans on Mike Gundy, realignment & the 2021 season 

Mike Gundy’s approval rating is on the rise. OSU fans prefer the Big Ten but believe the Pac-12 is a more likely destination. Expectations for the 2021 season are high but not through the roof. 

Those are just some of the results of my friend Dave Hudson’s annual OSU fan survey. 

Hudson has been conducting the survey for more than a decade, and it’s always a fascinating look into how Cowboy fans view the upcoming season and the overall state of the program. 

And 2021, of course, is a watershed year, with OSU’s conference future in doubt but the Cowboys boasting a veteran roster poised for a potential special season. 

Here are some of the highlights of Hudson’s survey: 

► OSU fans project the Cowboys with 8.3 regular-season wins, the highest-projected by the fans since 2017. 

Cowboy fans generally are quite realistic. Their highest predicted wins in 12 years was 9.5 in 2011, when OSU went 11-1 before a Fiesta Bowl victory over Stanford. The survey also saw 9.3 wins in 2013 (actual record, 10-2), 9.2 wins in 2009 (9-3) and 9.1 wins in 2017 (9-3). 

► The surveyed gave OSU a 28% chance of winning Bedlam and a 49% chance of beating Iowa State. Both the Sooners and Cyclones are ranked in the top 10. The 28% chance against OU is the lowest in the history of the survey. 

The games with the highest win chances were Missouri State, 97%; Kansas, 95%; and Tulsa, 86%. 

► Hudson is a sharp guy. Using Excel and the fans’ perceptions about the games, he simulated the season 10,000 times. Here are the chances for each season win total: 12-0, 1%; 11-1, 5%; 10-2, 15%; 9-3, 25%; 8-4, 26%; 7-5, 18%; 6-6, 8%; 5-7, 3%; 4-8, 1%. 

► Hudson asked fans for their emotions about the conference realignment news. Multiple answers were an option, so here is how the emotions ranked: disgust, anger, sadness, surprise, hope, fear, grief and happiness. There was a decent gap between sadness and surprise, and surprise and hope. There was a huge gap between fear and grief, and grief and happiness. 

► 72.5% of fans said the Bedlam football series should not continue; 50% of fans said the Bedlam Series should continue in other sports. 

► Fans said OSU is in the best position among the eight remaining Big 12 members, in terms of future conference positioning, followed by Iowa State, West Virginia, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas Christian, Baylor and Kansas State (the latter two tied). 

► Fans were asked about OSU president Kayse Shrum’s public and critical statements about OU leaving for the SEC. Fifty-two percent of fans “strongly agree” that they approve and 27% checked “agree.” So that’s 79% in support of Shrum. Ten percent were neutral. 

► Fans voted for the Big Ten (61.6%) as their desired destination for OSU, followed by the Pac-12 (21.6%), an expanded Big 12 (10.2%), the Atlantic Coast (5.7%) and the American Conference (1%). 

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► But fans said the Pac-12 was the most likely destination (53%), followed by the Big 12 (23.3%), American (12.4%), Big Ten (9.1%) and ACC (2.1%). 

► 73% of those surveyed said they were vaccinated for Covid. Thirteen percent said they were not vaccinated and 14% answered “none of your business.” 

Hudson asked for fans’ reactions if OSU were to require, for entrance into Boone Pickens Stadium, vaccination proof or a recent negative Covid test. 

Eighteen percent said they would cancel their tickets, 24% said they would be staying home this season, 26% said they would angry, 15% said they would buy more tickets, 48% said they would be annoyed, 39% said they would be pleased and 49% said they would feel safer at games. 

► 86% of fans picked OU as the team they would most like to beat in 2021. Texas was second on the list. The 86% is consistent with recent surveys. 

► The survey’s predicted Big 12 finish: 1. OU; 2. OSU; 3. Iowa State; 4. Texas; 5. TCU; 6. West Virginia; 7. Kansas State; 8. Baylor; 9. Texas Tech; 10. Kansas. 

► Fans’ optimism for ultimate success has withered. Hudson annually has asked if OSU will play in a football national championship game in the next 10 years. 

Only 24% in this survey said yes. That’s been a consistent drop from a high of 89% after the great 2011 season. The last five seasons have been 77, 58, 43, 38 and now 24%. 

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► Football remains the sport of passion. But its gap on basketball is slipping. Hudson asked fans in which sport they would most like to win the national title. Football led basketball 92% to 8% in 2011 and 2012, and that difference remained high as recently as 2017 (91-6). But since, then it’s dipped to 83-12, 77-16, 69-23 and now 66-26. Baseball, wrestling and golf each got some votes. 

► Fans ranked OU’s Lincoln Riley as the Big 12’s best coach, followed by Iowa State’s Matt Campbell. Gundy ranked third, one spot ahead of TCU’s Gary Patterson. That order was the same as 2020. Gundy had ranked first or second in seven of the eight seasons from 2012-19. 

► But Gundy rebounded in fan popularity. Hudson asked fans to rank Gundy 1-5 in a variety of categories. He was a 3.9 in OSU ambassadorship, 4.2 in player development, 3.9 in running a program, 3.8 in hiring assistants, 2.9 in in-game coaching and 3.0 in recruiting. A year ago, Gundy was 3.3 in ambassadorship, 4.2 in player development, 3.6 in running a program, 3.9 in hiring assistants, 3.0 in in-game coaching and 2.7 in recruiting. So his numbers generally rose, though Hudson notes not to the level of previous years. 

► Hudson measures approval ratings for a variety of people. Such as: 

Gundy 78%, athletic director Chad Weiberg 61% (with 38% unsure, since Weiberg didn’t start the job until July 1) and basketball coach Mike Boynton 96%. 

Hudson also asked those surveyed to rate a variety of campus personnel, on a 1-5 scale. Here are the rankings: Boynton 4.6, wrestling coach John Smith 4.6, men’s golf coach Alan Bratton 4.2, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles 4.0, Shrum 4.0, baseball coach Josh Holliday 4.0, Weiberg 3.9, Gundy 3.9, offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn 3.6 and women’s basketball coach Jim Littell 3.5. 

► Fans are bullish on Boynton’s basketball team; 98% said the Cowboys will make the 2022 NCAA Tournament, provided NCAA sanctions are lifted, and 89% said those sanctions would be lifted. Ninety% said OSU would win a conference basketball title in the next five years. 

Another sign that basketball is back at OSU: 30% said they were most looking forward to basketball season. Football season drew 29% and 42% said the sports were about the same. As recently as 2017, the difference was 91-1 in favor of football. 

► Hudson asks some fun questions about football players. Such as: 

Which Gundy-era quarterbacks would inspire the most confidence: 1. Brandon Weeden; 2. Mason Rudolph; 3. Zac Robinson; 4. Clint Chelf; 5. Spencer Sanders; 6. J.W. Walsh; 7. Taylor Cornelius 8. Bobby Reid; 9. Daxx Garman; 10. Al Pena. 

Favorite 2021 player: Brennan Presley on offense, Malcolm Rodriguez on defense.  

Breakout players for 2021: Presley on offense, Trace Ford on defense. 

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Blast from the past: Zeb Noland 

The crazy summer of 2021 continues to bring new developments to college football. Including this. 

South Carolina has a quarterback who is coming out of retirement, and Big 12 football will remember him well. 

Zeb Noland spent three years, 2016-18, at Iowa State, where he had his moments. Then Brock Purdy emerged as a Cyclone cornerstone, so Noland transferred to North Dakota State, where he encountered a quarterback, Trey Lance, better than Purdy. 

So Noland backed up Lance in 2019, then when Covid hit and North Dakota State’s 2020 season was delayed until spring 2021, Lance skipped most of the schedule to prepare for the National Football League.  

Noland got to play in seven games, sharing time with Cam Miller. Noland completed 51% of his passes, throwing for 721 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. 

Noland received an extra year of NCAA eligibility, courtesy of the pandemic, but figured it was time to get on with his life.  

New South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, late of Lincoln Riley’s OU staff, hired Noland as a graduate assistant coach. 

But this week, Beamer moved Noland to the active roster. 

Last week, Beamer announced that Gamecock starting quarterback Luke Doty suffered a sprained ankle and would be questionable for the September 4 season opener against Eastern Illinois. 

South Carolina is down to three healthy quarterbacks, and Beamer left open the possibility that Noland might actually play. 

The Gamecocks’ other quarterbacks have limited experience. Redshirt senior Jason Brown was a one-year starter at Division I-AA Saint Francis, redshirt sophomore Connor Jordan arrived without a scholarship and was on the scout team last season, and Colton Gauthier is a true freshman. 

Noland no doubt is behind, but he’s clearly the most experienced among the Gamecock quarterbacks. 

Noland, from Watkinsville, Georgia, sat out the 2016 season at Iowa State. In 2017, Noland was thrust into action after Kyle Kempt’s mid-season injury and previous starter Joel Lanning’s move to linebacker. Noland relieved Kempt against OSU and nearly led the Cyclones to an improbable victory, throwing for 263 yards in a 49-42 Iowa State loss. OSU’s A.J. Green saved the game with an end-zone interception with 32 seconds left. 

In 2018, Noland again relieved an injured Kempt, and in a 37-27 home loss to OU, Noland threw for 360 yards, completing 25 of 36 passes, with two touchdowns and one interception. 

But three weeks later in Stillwater, Purdy relieved Noland and led the Cyclones to a 48-42 upset victory. The job was Purdy’s, and Noland soon enough announced he was transferring. 

Noland’s Iowa State numbers are decent: 176 passes, 60.2% completion percentage, six touchdowns, two interceptions. 

Noland’s long and winding road as a college quarterback is not quite over. 

Mailbag: OU-Nebraska 1971 

For the Wednesday Oklahoman, I wrote about the OU-Nebraska Game of the Century, and like always, it’s an evergreen subject for Sooner fans. Including Blake Arnold, the son of former Sooner Claude Arnold, the quarterback on OU’s 1950 national title team. 

Blake: “Enjoyed your article today. Regarding John Shelley, I believe a lot of blame goes to Chuck Fairbanks. John is a friend of mine. We both played at Casady. He graduated 1968, I graduated 1973. I played at Colorado, and I was moved from QB to free safety at the start of my third year. In our goal-line defense, as the free safety, I lined up on the outside – literally the end man on the line, with no inside responsibilities. There were no defensive backs filling the gaps as a linebacker. I was at the 1971 (OU-NU) game. As you know, Jeff Kinney scored not one, but four goal-line touchdowns that day, and in addition to the last one, the first three were all run right at John Shelley, who was lined up in OU’s goal-line defense as a linebacker. The free safety should not have been filling a gap on a goal-line defense. Bob Devaney simply exploited an obvious misalignment in OU’s defensive scheme. OU had a 190-pound safety playing linebacker. He was not ever going to stop Jeff Kinney in his tracks, and Devaney took advantage of it four times. That was a coaching error by Fairbanks, and John Shelley has had to live with it all these years. I guarantee you, he still has dreams about it.” 

Tramel: Well, this is just absolute gold. First off, I never thought about why a free safety would be in the middle of the field on the goal line. But what Blake Arnold said makes perfect sense, especially since Shelley was injured. 

It made me wonder, were the OU coaches just not thinking, or were Colorado coaches ahead of their time a few years later? 

You know, college football is full of innovations that took decades to bloom. For dang near a century, offenses didn’t spread the field. Didn’t make defenses cover near as much ground. Now, it’s common with even the toughest of teams. 

Thanks, Blake, for some insight into football that a lot of us never think about. 

Take a Ride on the Reading: The Boys of Summer 

When people occasionally ask me about the best sports book I’ve ever read, I give a variety of answers. But I know what book I should say. 

The Boys of Summer. Roger Kahn’s 1972 masterpiece about the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Kahn grew up in Brooklyn, went to work at the New York Herald Tribune in 1948 at age 20 and by 1952 was covering the Dodgers, a beat he held for two years. 

Kahn wrote about those days, then goes back 20 years later and finds those Dodgers – Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Carl Furillo, Gil Hodges and a dozen more -- for reflections on their lives. 

The Boys of Summer’s greatness resonates this way. I first read it when I was a teen-ager, sometime in the ‘70s, and haven’t re-read it in at least 30 years. Yet I still remember some of the lines that Kahn penned a half century ago. 

“Same thing in these woods as where Ebbets Field was in Brooklyn; there’ll never be a ballgame here again,” Preacher Roe looking out over the Arkansas pasture where he played as a kid. 

“...the most glorious glove on the most glorious team that ever played baseball in the sunlight of Brooklyn,” referring to third baseman-turned-bartender Billy Cox. 

“So are the boys of summer; so is all the family of man,” referring to the gratitude for Jackie Robinson’s life and career. 

Sports Illustrated ranked The Boys of Summer the No. 2 sports book of the 20th century. The Sweet Science was No. 1. Haven’t read it. Probably need to, if it’s better than The Boys of Summer.   

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.