A rivalry resumed?

Published: December 1, 2006

You want Oklahoma-Nebraska on an annual basis? Here are three plans that could work.

• The Alabama-Tennessee Plan: When the Southeastern Conference split into divisions, the primary sticking point was the Bama-Tennessee rivalry. Geography mandated that the schools be split, but tradition mandated that the series remain. So the SEC gives each school an interdivision rival that it plays every season. Alabama-Tennessee, Auburn-Georgia, Arkansas-South Carolina, Florida-LSU, Kentucky-Mississippi State and Vanderbilt-Ole Miss.

Play OU-Nebraska every year. And, for example, Texas-Colorado. Texas A&M-Kansas State. Texas Tech-Missouri. Oklahoma State-Kansas. Baylor-Iowa State.

The downside? Schedule inequity. Over the long haul, you figure Nebraska is going to be the best program in the North, so OU would be disadvantaged having to play the Huskers every year.

"I'm not so sure that'd be the wise thing to do," said OU coach Bob Stoops.

Chances of happening: Think snowball and hell.

• The Non-conference Plan: OU and Nebraska could play every year, but only half the games would count in the Big 12 standings.

No series uses this model, but it makes some sense. Basketball has tried it in the past, with the old Big Eight Tournament in Kansas City.

In football, the years when the Sooners and Huskers aren't scheduled by the Big 12, they could play non-conference. Heck, they even could kick off the season. Play Labor Day weekend.

You don't think the college football world would go nuts over OU-NU in September? Florida State-Miami does it. Why not Oklahoma-Nebraska?

The downside? Beefed-up non-conference schedules go against the flow of most of college football.

Chances of happening: Think winning the lottery.

• The Big Ten Plan: Go without divisions, play nine (or more) conference games a year, and make sure all the big boys play. Including OU-Nebraska.

The Big Ten uses a rotating system for scheduling; not every school plays every other school every year. But Michigan and Ohio State play every season. Like the SEC, the Big Ten preserved its tradition.

A couple of years ago, the Big 12 actually discussed dissolving the divisions. Those talks are dead.

Stoops said he'd go for this plan, "If they're willing to get rid of a championship game and everyone played nine games, don't have North and South divisions.

"You get all that done, it's worth talking about, sure. A lot would have to change for that to happen."

The downside? Scrapping the championship game would cost the Big 12 millions of dollars. And playing a championship game without divisions seems silly.

Chances of happening: Think spaghetti in a haystack.