Whatever happens this season, I think it’s fair to say that Texas Longhorns were “ready” for the SEC.
When the initial announcement of Texas and OU joining the conference was made, the Longhorns were dejected. There were boos from Texas fans, from Big 12 fans, from college football pundits, and even from SEC fans.
The funny thing is, the Big 12 helped Texas prepare. The initial announcement that Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners The day the Hornets left the Big 12 for greener pastures in the SEC was July 2021. The Hornets had just hired Steve Sarkisian six months prior. The Big 12 wanted both departing schools to pay huge fees or stay until the end, in 2025.
That allowed Sark, a veteran of SEC football, to recruit the kind of team that could compete in the new league. If Texas had had the opportunity to change immediately, it probably wouldn’t have been ready.
Ultimately, after a combined $100 million payment, OU and Texas were allowed to leave the club a year early. That coincided with the new and improved Longhorns reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Now, two weeks into the inaugural season, Texas is leading the charge in the new league. The SEC is talking about them. ESPN is talking about them. Joel Klatt, Josh Pate And Greg McElroy are all leading with Texas. YouTube channels that never paid attention to Texas break down the Longhorns movie for almost an hour!
Obviously, Georgia The bulldogs are still as great as ever. They are #1 for a reason. Years of developing high-quality programs have brought Georgia a lot of success.
And Georgia gets a big non-conference win, beating the The Clemson Tigers 34-3. But Texas is the shiny new toy that college football pundits are talking about. And make no mistake, the Longhorns’ win over Michigan was a revelation. Anyone, pundit or fan, who wasn’t sure Texas was a real title contender is now convinced of it.
Once again, no matter what happened this season, the Longhorns were “ready.”
This article was originally published on Longhorns Wire: Is newcomer Texas the team creating the most buzz in the SEC?
