Big Ten scheduling has slipped lately

Tatum’s college decision process.

So the coach wasn’t too surprised when he got a text from Tatum last week. Hey, I’m thinking about switching. And just like that, the wheels were in motion for soon-to-be head coach Riley to land the first commitment of his tenure.

“Just the last couple of weeks, (Tatum’s) personality has really opened up and maybe it was he’s come to grips with ‘Hey, I’m going to come to OU,’” Pearson said. “He’s been a great teammate the last couple weeks. He’s talking to the guys a whole lot more.

“He kind of kept to himself a little bit when he committed to Texas and was just kind of his own guy. It seems like his personality has really opened up the last couple of weeks.”

Tatum agreed with his coach. Committing to OU was like a giant sigh of relief.

“I felt way better when I committed, like a weight lifted off the top of my shoulders,” he said after a 7-on-7 workout at Putnam City on Tuesday night.

When Tatum took an unofficial visit to Oklahoma on June 3, he had no idea that the leadership would change four days later.

But he was impressed with the campus and the coaching staff.

When he and his mom left, he told her that he wanted to flip.

“Everything they were saying to me just sounded great,” Tatum said. “They’re going to take care of my mom, me, my family. The school is beautiful, the new facilities are beautiful. It just felt like home.”

His decision was affirmed even more when Riley called him up last week, shortly after his introductory press conference to check in with him. Tatum was Riley’s first recruiting call, evoking memories of Stoops’ early call to Jason White followed by an in-home visit the day he was introduced as Oklahoma’s coach.

In terms of incoming class ratings, White was a part of an unheralded group.

But with White, Josh Heupel and Quentin Griffin, among others, Stoops built the foundation for the 2000 national championship and his successful tenure with that initial class.

With Tatum’s flip and the other eight players in the class — including Southmoore offensive tackle Brey Walker, ranked as the best player in Oklahoma — Riley has a chance to make a big statement with the foundation of his first class.

The first-year head coach is hitting the trail hard, celebrating Tatum’s commitment with the Twitter declaration that he and his staff were still hunting down two more from the state, likely referring to Owasso defensive back Josh Proctor and Midwest City defensive end Jalen Redmond. Proctor is committed to Ohio State while Redmond isn’t committed yet. Proctor is considered the state’s No. 3 player while Redmond is ranked as the No. 7.

With Tatum’s flip, momentum may be swinging for Riley to land more high-profile commitments — something that might be rare for any other new head coach.

“I’m trying to build the recruiting class,” Tatum said. “I think it’s going to come out as one of the best.” few years ago, the Big Ten spearheaded the upgrade of non-conference schedules.

The Big Ten forged a scheduling agreement with the Pac-12. The Big Ten prohibited its schools from playing lower-division opponents. The Big Ten went to a nine-game conference schedule, which gives schools less of a chance to dumb down its opponents.

To its credit, the Big Ten isn’t scheduling many I-AA foes. But the Pac-12 scheduling alignment is gone; only three Big Ten/Pac-12 matchups are scheduled this season. And the Big Ten’s scheduling has slipped. Today we continue our annual rankings of college football’s non-conference schedules. Conference schedules are set by others. But non-conference scheduling is determined by each individual school. No excuses.

And the Big Ten’s scheduling has slipped. Here are the rankings for the 14 Big Ten schools: 1. in Arlington,

Not a dud in the bunch. A big name and two solid mid-majors.

2.

in Indianapolis, at The reigning Heisman winner in Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, plus an SEC school. Not bad.

3. 4.

11.

42).

Hard to pick nits with the Sooners on the schedule.

at If the Ducks were their old selves, this would be really tasking. But Northern Illinois is an OK mid-major, and Arkansas State is the reigning Sun Belt champion.

5.

If Western Michigan and Michigan State had played late last season, Western would have been favored, even in East Lansing.

6.

UW is much more than Rutgers should be trying to handle. And I rarely say that about anybody.

7. at Solid schedule. UCF is getting competitive again. 8. at

Utah State hit the skids last season. Otherwise, this would be ranked higher.

9. Decent schedule, though you’d sort of think the Nittany Lions would aspire to higher.

10.

at An OK schedule. Nothing great.

at

Not good, but you can’t ask the woebegone Hoosiers to take on more. Heck, Georgia Southern will be a dogfight.

12.

at WKU and USF are decent mid-majors. But really? The University of the state that has Chicago in it can’t do better than this?

13. at Wow. This isn’t very good at all. The Hayden Fry Bowl (North Texas) isn’t building up the interest. 14. at

Western Michigan went to the Cotton Bowl last season out of the MAC and played a much tougher non-conference than this — Northwestern, Illinois, Georgia Southern and North Carolina Central.

.173 (13 of

.548 (23 of 42)

.167 (7 of 42).

.048 (2 of 42).