I think you are reading into this too much, again given the school he’s been at what’s his upside to scheduling a juggernaut??
His first season at TT he played 1nebraska, 10ksu, 20texas,1oklahoma
His 3rd season he played 13 Ohio State, 17 NC State, not including the big 12 schedule that year 4 Texas, 4 Oklahoma and Clemson
So again, you can only schedule who you can get, what would be his reasoning for scheduling more than the big 12 who was rocking at that time including an up Texas, KSU, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M