How do TU football players adjust to the shifting landscape of college football?

Daniel Allen
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kendarin Ray was candid when asked on his opinion toward conference realignment.
“It’s definitely a real thing,” Ray told the Tulsa World Monday during the American Athletic Conference Media Days. “It’s not something you can just act like it ain’t there. Like I said, it’s very much a real thing.”
Three teams have departed the AAC this year – Houston, Central Florida and Cincinnati – and six entering – UTSA, Rice, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, UAB and Charlotte.
But how do TU players feel about the current outlook of college football? How do student athletes in a smaller Group of Five program adjust to the constantly shifting landscape of the sport?
The Golden Hurricane first participated in the AAC during the 2014 season. There, they posted a 2-10 record, winning just two of their eight AAC conference games. As a result, then-TU head coach Bill Blankenship – now the head man for Owasso High – was fired.
Granted, the Golden Hurricane were coming off a 3-9 campaign the year prior in their final season in Conference USA. Still, 2014 was supposed to be a building year off the dreadful slump from its previous season. For context, TU lost a plethora of talent from its 2012 squad, which posted an 11-3 record, won a Conference USA title and downed Big 12 foe Iowa in the Liberty Bowl – TU’s last win over a Power Five opponent.
Transitions can vary in terms of their difficulty. But adding an entirely new slate of teams, not to mention inheriting a massive influx in competition, is another story.
The same can be said for schools on the opposite end of conference realignment. Reigning Conference USA champion UTSA brings a trend of winning to the AAC. North Texas has history of winning along with ties to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, sitting roughly 30 minutes in driving distance from the DFW area. Florida Atlantic has displayed spirts of success in past years, also having a tie to the Miami and Boca Raton areas – a hotbed in college football recruiting.
This season, the Golden Hurricane faces two of the aforementioned schools.
“We’ve got six new schools coming in (to the AAC),” Ray said. “We play two of them. I mean, I know most of them are really good But obviously as a player, my job is to just go out there and play (football).
“That’s really all I can do.”
In the blink of an eye, the AAC could have four more incoming conference members, or as many departing.
But as conference realignment’s effect toll elevates by the day, one thing can be done:
“Control what we can control,” said TU quarterback Braylon Braxton. “That’s all we can do. We can’t alter the course of (conference realignment) nor do we have any real impact on it. We’re just told to go out there and play, and that’s what we do.”