Red River Rivalry? Texas Twice Voted to Approve "Mayfield Proposal"

It was a few weeks ago that OU quarterback Baker Mayfield was granted an extra year of eligibility in 2017 by the Big 12 Conference, but you might not be able to guess which school was in support of the Sooners' quarterback from the beginning. 

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When speaking at an OU Board of Regents meeting on Tuesday, school president David Boren said that the University of Texas was one of the schools to vote for the "Mayfield Proposal" both times.

The ruling by the Big 12 allows walk-on players to transfer to a school within the conference without losing a year of eligibility, as long as the player never received a written scholarship offer from the school where they previously walked-on. The vote originally failed to pass after a 5-5 vote between the Big 12 faculty representatives on June 1, but some of the language in the proposal was changed and passed the next day after a 7-3 vote. 

The news that Texas was in support of the ruling was somewhat shocking. Many assumed Texas wouldn't be one of the schools to vote for the proposal to pass, seeing the Longhorns and Sooners are longtime rivals, and the thought of playing against Mayfield inside the Cotton Bowl two more times isn't the most appealing option for those in Austin. 

Mayfield was the Big 12 newcomer of the year back in 2013 when he was a walk-on at Texas Tech, but had to sit out the next season after deciding to transfer to Oklahoma when he wasn't awarded a scholarship. In his first year as the Sooners' starting quarterback, Mayfield finished fourth in the Heisman voting after throwing for 3,700 yards and 36 touchdowns. 

Boren also went on to praise the OU/TX rivalry, saying that the two teams would play every season even if the conference was broken up. 

Despite the bad blood among fan bases, it looks like the Sooners and Longhorns are a lot closer than they let on.