SOONERS
Jenni Carlson
The Oklahoman
Last summer when OU spent a couple of days celebrating its move to the SEC becoming official, Sooner brass tried a few times to get fans to join them in a familiar chant.
“S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!”
It didn’t go over great.
Still doesn’t.
With the College Football Playoff kicking off this weekend with on-campus quarterfinals, I wanted to see where Sooner fans stood on the issue. This is the first postseason since OU joined the SEC, and since it is not in the playoff mix — Georgia, Texas and Tennessee will rep the league — this felt like a good time to see if Sooner Nation has been indoctrinated.
Has it taken to drinking the SEC Kool-Aid?
Or would that be Southern Comfort?
“I’d rather die,” one fan said via social media of pulling for the SEC teams.
That sentiment would rank on the extreme end of what Sooner fans had to say, but an informal poll of them revealed that the tribalism that runs rampant in the SEC has not pulled the Sooners into its clutches.
“I will not be cheering for the other SEC teams in the playoff,” Sooner fan David Fields said. “Why would I? It hurts us for recruiting.”
Fields isn’t just a fan of OU. He also works at the OU Health Sciences Center as an associate professor and the director of the pediatric metabolic research program. Needless to say, he’s all about the university.
The SEC?
Nope.
“Hope they lose,” Fields said. “One and done.”
Some Sooners have a slightly more nuanced approach. Roger Franklin, an OU fan living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was born and raised in Enid and took to the Sooners in 1972. But he will cheer for Tennessee because of former Sooner quarterback and current Volunteer coach Josh Heupel.
“Always will be grateful for the way he led the team during his time in Norman as a player,” Franklin said.
But …
“No true Sooner fan wants to see Saxet win in any way, shape or form,” he said.
(Saxet is Texas upside down. Get it?)
“I’d boo them in a hot dog eating contest,” he said.
“And those (Georgia players) are so obnoxious and arrogant. Not too big on Kirby (Smart, Georgia coach) either. Still remember their asinine fans from the Rose Bowl game that (Lincoln) Riley foolishly gifted them.”
Why does this suddenly feel like the “Seinfeld” Festivus episode?
I’ve got a lot of problems with you people!
Seriously, though, most Sooner fans I heard from had no inclination to pull for their SEC brethren.
“I’m an OU fan. That’s it.”
“I hope they all lose.”
“No!!! Never!!”
“Heck no to pulling for the SEC. Likely rooting against, especially Texas.”
The Longhorns, of course, add another element to this Sooner question. OU fans don't hate any team as much as they hate Texas. They loathe Georgia (too much success), Alabama (too much arrogance) or LSU (too many annoying fans), but Texas? It has all those negatives plus a few dozen more.
“Even when they were in the Big 12 Conference, if the devil played tiddlywinks with Texas,” OU alum and Sooner fan Cris Paden said, “you’d root for the devil.
“The immortal words of Mike Treps continue to ring in my ears: ‘You nevvvvver root for Texas.’”
Truth be told, I heard from more Sooner fans who said they were rooting for chaos in the playoff than said they would be rooting for the SEC. I actually didn’t hear from anyone who said they were all in on the SEC.
Quite frankly, I don’t think all that many fans in the SEC are all in on the SEC. You’d have to look long and hard to find fans blindly cheering for all the teams in the conference because, at the very least, every team has a rival or two in the league, a school or two that their fans just can’t stand. No chance those fans would cheer for them.
The S-E-C chants?
Fans don’t do that for other teams in the league. They do it for their team when it beats a non-SEC team.
It’s more about taunting than tribalism.
I get why Sooner fans weren’t all that excited about chanting it last summer, and I get why they aren’t waving their SEC-issued pom poms during the playoff either.
Bulldogs and Longhorns and Vols, oh my?
The Sooners say, "Um, no."
https://www.oklahoman.com/picture-g...tal-quarterback-washington-state/77077020007/
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
Why OU football fans are largely not cheering SEC brethren in College Football Playoff
Jenni CarlsonThe Oklahoman
Last summer when OU spent a couple of days celebrating its move to the SEC becoming official, Sooner brass tried a few times to get fans to join them in a familiar chant.
“S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!”
It didn’t go over great.
Still doesn’t.
With the College Football Playoff kicking off this weekend with on-campus quarterfinals, I wanted to see where Sooner fans stood on the issue. This is the first postseason since OU joined the SEC, and since it is not in the playoff mix — Georgia, Texas and Tennessee will rep the league — this felt like a good time to see if Sooner Nation has been indoctrinated.
Has it taken to drinking the SEC Kool-Aid?
Or would that be Southern Comfort?
“I’d rather die,” one fan said via social media of pulling for the SEC teams.
That sentiment would rank on the extreme end of what Sooner fans had to say, but an informal poll of them revealed that the tribalism that runs rampant in the SEC has not pulled the Sooners into its clutches.
“I will not be cheering for the other SEC teams in the playoff,” Sooner fan David Fields said. “Why would I? It hurts us for recruiting.”
Fields isn’t just a fan of OU. He also works at the OU Health Sciences Center as an associate professor and the director of the pediatric metabolic research program. Needless to say, he’s all about the university.
The SEC?
Nope.
“Hope they lose,” Fields said. “One and done.”
Some Sooners have a slightly more nuanced approach. Roger Franklin, an OU fan living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was born and raised in Enid and took to the Sooners in 1972. But he will cheer for Tennessee because of former Sooner quarterback and current Volunteer coach Josh Heupel.
“Always will be grateful for the way he led the team during his time in Norman as a player,” Franklin said.
But …
“No true Sooner fan wants to see Saxet win in any way, shape or form,” he said.
(Saxet is Texas upside down. Get it?)
“I’d boo them in a hot dog eating contest,” he said.
“And those (Georgia players) are so obnoxious and arrogant. Not too big on Kirby (Smart, Georgia coach) either. Still remember their asinine fans from the Rose Bowl game that (Lincoln) Riley foolishly gifted them.”
Why does this suddenly feel like the “Seinfeld” Festivus episode?
I’ve got a lot of problems with you people!
Seriously, though, most Sooner fans I heard from had no inclination to pull for their SEC brethren.
“I’m an OU fan. That’s it.”
“I hope they all lose.”
“No!!! Never!!”
“Heck no to pulling for the SEC. Likely rooting against, especially Texas.”
The Longhorns, of course, add another element to this Sooner question. OU fans don't hate any team as much as they hate Texas. They loathe Georgia (too much success), Alabama (too much arrogance) or LSU (too many annoying fans), but Texas? It has all those negatives plus a few dozen more.
“Even when they were in the Big 12 Conference, if the devil played tiddlywinks with Texas,” OU alum and Sooner fan Cris Paden said, “you’d root for the devil.
“The immortal words of Mike Treps continue to ring in my ears: ‘You nevvvvver root for Texas.’”
Truth be told, I heard from more Sooner fans who said they were rooting for chaos in the playoff than said they would be rooting for the SEC. I actually didn’t hear from anyone who said they were all in on the SEC.
Quite frankly, I don’t think all that many fans in the SEC are all in on the SEC. You’d have to look long and hard to find fans blindly cheering for all the teams in the conference because, at the very least, every team has a rival or two in the league, a school or two that their fans just can’t stand. No chance those fans would cheer for them.
The S-E-C chants?
Fans don’t do that for other teams in the league. They do it for their team when it beats a non-SEC team.
It’s more about taunting than tribalism.
I get why Sooner fans weren’t all that excited about chanting it last summer, and I get why they aren’t waving their SEC-issued pom poms during the playoff either.
Bulldogs and Longhorns and Vols, oh my?
The Sooners say, "Um, no."
https://www.oklahoman.com/picture-g...tal-quarterback-washington-state/77077020007/
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at @jennicarlsonok.bsky.social and twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
