Porter Moser opens up on how new Big 12 teams are fitting into league

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Porter Moser opened up about how the four new Big 12 teams, BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, are fitting into the league.

This came as Oklahoma is preparing to play BYU on Tuesday night. Moser explained that there is a lot of respect for the new teams around the Big 12 and shared some of his first-hand experiences from playing and preparing for those teams.

“I think they have a lot of confident respect for them,” Porter Moser said. “There’s a lot of respect for the new teams. I mean, we’ve played Cincinnati, we’ve played Central Florida, we’ve been scouting against BYU, we’ve seen Houston on TV.”

As Porter Moser mentioned, Oklahoma has already played Cincinnati and UCF, beating the Bearcats but losing to the Knights. That loss to UCF is the game Oklahoma is coming up with as the Sooners get ready to take on BYU.

Houston is currently sitting atop the Big 12 conference standings, with a 6-3 conference record. BYU is ranked in the AP Top 25 and is eighth in the conference, while Cincinnati and UCF are 11th and 12th respectively. All of those teams have winning records overall.

“So, I think from the beginning they knew all four teams were going to be right in, fit right in with the top conference in the country. I think our guys feel that. They had no let-up. They had a great respect for Cincinnati and Central Florida and I know with this scout that they have a tremendous respect for BYU as well.”

Interestingly, this is Oklahoma’s last season in the Big 12 before leaving for the SEC along with Texas. Then, ahead of the 2024 season, four more new schools will join the Big 12 in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah.

Porter Moser declines to comment on state of officiating

After a fast start to the season, Oklahoma has struggled in recent weeks, losing four games in a row and six of their last eight. On top of that, the Sooners have been called for more fouls in recent games compared to their season average.

Still, Porter Moser didn’t want to talk about officiating when he was asked.

“Next,” Moser said. “Sorry, I don’t mean not to answer your questions. I’m always available to answer. That one’s a tough one for me to talk about.”

In Oklahoma’s last two games against UCF and Kansas State, the Sooners were called for a total of 40 fouls.