Ok, let's be clear on this. I've looked into conference expansion scenarios for years. I've done a lot of research (admittedly I don't google before every response, if I know something to be a fact I won't compulsively check it). I also have heard from insiders both on the SEC and Texas A&M side. So, it's not as though I'm going into this blind and naive.I really believe I am more qualifed to "what if" the OU/Texas senario than you or Krazy.
I wrote something prior to the Big 12 being saved (for now, even A&M doesn't think it will last, and I suppose you don't since you're here talking about the SEC) and if you take time to read it I think you'll see I've looked a lot of things up and tried to weigh a lot of factors:
Conference Expansion: The Impact on College Football | The Asylum
Obviously it's all shelved for now, but I don't think anyone really believes it's shelved period... Perhaps you'll note that I correctly said that flirting with OU jeopardized the A&M deal. It's not as though I'm forming my opinions without looking into them, that's not the case at all.
Oklahoma sold their soul to Texas. That's all there is to it. They were in the Big 8, their top Big 8 rival was Nebraska. The Big 8 headquarters was in Missouri. Oklahoma allowed Texas to come in and basically take over. Now, their second biggest rival is gone and the rivalry might be permanently in jeopardy. What of the Big 8 teams? Kansas and Missouri for instance... Oklahoma shared a conference with them for almost 80 years! When OU chose to basically give up all Big 8 allegiances, to give up Nebraska and if needs be Missouri and Kansas, they sold their soul to Texas.
Texas was throwing around threats, to never play anyone that didn't go along with the Pac-10 deal. If OU really did break from Texas to join a mega-SEC, they could end up losing not just almost 80 years of Big 8 history, the Nebraska rivalry, but they could also lose Texas as well. This is why OU has chosen to follow Texas to the ends of the earth and was so happy when the SEC gave them a out, it was never a realistic possibility.
Oklahoma could have played the middle, they could have emerged as the central power in the Big 12 but they didn't, they let Texas become the bully instead and now they're the bully's sidekick. It's not a good position and it's a vulnerable position. I'm not joking about them potentially becoming Arkansas, they have farther to fall and they could do that if they tossed away all that history because of the position they've forced themselves into.
To be completely frank, I think the SEC played OU because they really wanted Texas. They would have taken A&M but for a long time now they've envied Texas (and their revenue) and they were probably willing to blow up the existing deal just to keep that option on the table. I don't consider that to be wise, but I think the SEC is holding out hope that they can force Texas into the SEC (perhaps with OU and A&M as leverage) OU's value as a individual program just isn't what it once was. This is compounded by Okie St, if they are a package deal when a conference like the SEC simply can't afford to add both by themselves. All things considered those two have as much in common with the Mississippi schools as the Alabama schools.