Is Nebraska a cautionary tale for Oklahoma and its move to the SEC?

AS OKLAHOMA ATHLETIC director Joe Castiglione drove to church the Sunday morning after Thanksgiving in 2021, he received the most stunning phone call of his professional career. Lincoln Riley was on the other line. Out of nowhere, the Sooners coach told Castiglione he was considering leaving for USC.

1. Castiglione never made it to church. Two hours later, in a meeting with Castiglione and OU president Joseph Harroz Jr., Riley made it clear he had already decided to bolt for Los Angeles.

Earlier that year in July, OU and Texas, just as stunningly, announced they would exit the Big 12 together and join the SEC. Over the following four months, and even then in their final meeting, Castiglione said Riley had never expressed any reservations about OU’s impending move to the SEC. Riley has never used that as a reason for going to USC, either.

Still, Riley’s unexpected departure sowed a narrative that he didn’t believe in OU’s ability to compete where “It Just Means More.” Pundits and opposing fan bases since have piled on with skepticism, as the Sooners prepared for their SEC debut. One national radio host recently suggested that the Sooners could go the way of Nebraska — and completely disappear as a power on the way to irrelevance in the SEC.

But OU, which opens the season Friday against Temple (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), is set to face what could be the toughest regular-season slate in program history. Its inaugural SEC campaign features six preseason top 15 opponents — including No. 11 Missouri, No. 5 Alabama and No. 13 LSU consecutively to close the year.

Will such a rise in competition prove the doubters right and transform the Sooners from conference contender to conference afterthought?

Or, can OU turn its SEC membership into an asset — and emerge as strong as ever?